


Float My Boat

by cockatoo



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alpha Billy Hargrove, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BAMF Steve Harrington, Bad Boy Billy Has A Big Boy Crush, Billy Has To Dress Like A Pirate, Fluff and Angst, Lactose Intolerance, Lots of Sea Puns, M/M, Omega Steve Harrington, Poetic (Social) Justice, Porn That Turned Into Plot, Protective Billy Hargrove, Sexual Tension, Slut Shaming, Steve In A Sailor Costume Is A Subculture, Workplace Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2020-06-25 07:14:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 56,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19740799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cockatoo/pseuds/cockatoo
Summary: Working a minimum wage customer service job dressed as a pirate was just about as close to rock bottom as Billy had sunk before. However, spending his days obsessively staring at the cute omega in a sailor costume working across the mall somehow made it all worth it.OrA sad excuse to make Pirate Billy slowly fall in love with Sailor Steve.





	1. Without a Paddle

**Author's Note:**

> I have recently graduated with no life prospects so Sailor Steve has become my religion. Please excuse this confusing mess of light-hearted fluff because goddamn it we all deserve it after season 3. I promise the only actually season 3 spoiler is that Joe Keery looks hot in a sailor costume but we could have guessed that anyway. 
> 
> Very small trigger warning for workplace sexual harassment throughout the story, I promise it’s nothing graphic or extreme.

Billy’s extreme lactose intolerance has caused him to develop a rational fear of cereal and an ongoing urge to tip cows. This is why he went on record at secondary school for stealing people’s lunch money and punching the dinner lady in the face, claimed he was protecting them from an unknown evil. Unsurprisingly that led the alpha to graduate education with mediocre marks and enough detention slips to fill a goddamn novel.

Now he’s forced to work minimum wage at _Jolly Roger’s Seafood Restaurant_ in the mall, mixing drinks for the single mothers who would tuck their tip in the back pocket of his ridiculous pirate costume. Billy was never any good at biting his lip and sticking something out, hence his reputation as Hawkins’ unrequited bachelor. But then one day he looked across the mall to be greeted by the sight of a cute omega in a sailor costume. Not even the tubs of dairy ridden ice cream in front of him could stop Billy questioning his philosophy. Now his painful work day was interluded with the image of Steve Harrington with his ice cream scoop and pale creamy skin.

He doesn’t notice he’s leaning closer to the window until Barb throws a box of cocktail umbrellas on the bar, the sound causing him to snap back to reality.

The beta waitress rolls her eyes. ‘Stop staring, it’s creepy.’

Billy snatches the box and pretends to busy himself with colour coordinating the umbrellas. ‘I’m not staring,’ he scoffs, hand flustering until one of the cocktail sticks prick his finger. Awkwardly he looks up to check if Barb saw but she’s not looking at him. She’s looking at Steve.

It seems everyone in the entire mall is looking at the omega as he hands an ice cream cone to a little girl, his smile beautifully bright against the artificial lighting.

Barb snorts. ‘Don’t get me wrong, having to wear this for a uniform is degrading,’ she gestures to stuffed parrot on her shoulder and the plastic sword on her hip. Their boss had claimed the inspiration behind the female uniform came from “sea wenches.” However, the dark circles under Barb’s never amused eyes renames the look “minimum wage slave.” She points to the window. ‘But it could be a lot worse. _Scoops Ahoy_ forcing their omega only staff to wear a sailor outfit that short is borderline discrimination.’

He looks back over at Steve who is now on his hands and knees cleaning up the girl’s dropped ice cream. His short shorts riding up far enough for Billy to catch a glimpse of a mole on the omega’s inner thigh. Billy licks his lips, ‘its borderline something.’

‘You’re a pig,’ Barb scolds.

The ambient music of sea shanties crackles through the speaker system. The same little girl from the ice cream shop’s cries join in as the restaurant doors open, creating a truly tedious symphony.

‘Do you guys have room for three?’ The mother asks.

Billy looks dramatically from each side of the empty restaurant. He smiles while she blushes, ‘I think we can fit you in.’

She tips him thirty dollars after her daughter’s tantrum sends her glass of white wine to the floor. The woman orders another two bottles and calls him captain. Billy spends the rest of his shift at the bar avoiding her advances until its last call. Graciously he splits his tips between Barb and the meek omega waitress who can’t meet his gaze.

‘See you later, asshole. Enjoy your day off.’ Barb says as she pockets her share.

Billy smirks. ‘Later, sea wench.’

He slips his pirate hat off as he exits the restaurant. The mall looks unsettling this late, all shutter shut stores and dimmed lights. Billy puts an unlit cigarette between his lips and turns to the parking lot.

The light coming from _Scoops Ahoy_ stops him in his tracks.

Billy squints at the vision of Steve bent over the freezer as his boss leers at him from behind. Despite the fact the store is closed Steve continues to scoop and unscoop ice cream. Billy can’t hear what he’s saying but the frustrated look on the omega’s face speaks volumes.

Uselessly all he does is stare until the omega’s boss throws him the key and leaves the store, whistling a tune as he turns the corner.

Steve just stands there, alone.

After what seems like an eternity the boy picks up the key and drags himself from the store. The lights turn off and Billy can make out the profile of Steve’s small body slump its shoulders. Desperately he gets on his tip toes to grasp at the shutter handle but he’s far too short. Billy makes note of another cluster of moles on the omega’s back as his shirt rides up when he tries again.

Billy almost chokes on his cigarette before the beautiful sight is corrupted.

‘You piece of shit!’ Steve screams as he jumps up to try and grab the shutter only to fall on the floor. This time he doesn’t get back up.

Billy sighs and slowly approaches him from behind. He tucks the cigarette behind his ear. ‘Do you uh… need a hand?’

The omega turns his head, deflated look curdling into anger. ‘I’m not useless, you know?’ He slowly stands up and jumps again.

Billy looks to the floor.

Steve sighs. ‘Sorry,’ he tucks a lock of his too fluffy hair behind his ear, ‘I’m not usually this much of a bitch I swear. It’s just my asshole boss kept me behind after work just to correct my scoop technique. Like who gives a fuck if I _sometimes_ scoop anti-clockwise?’ His grip on the key turns bruising.

Cautiously, Billy closes the shutter behind him, his height casting a shadow over the omega as he leans over his small form. If this was a romance film Steve would giggle and call him a big strong alpha, tip toes straining once more to peck him on the cheek. Billy half expects it but all he gets is the pretty omega saying:

‘Your outfit is probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen.’

Billy shifts under his uniform while he gives Steve a very long once over. ‘And your sailor costume is what, the height of fashion?’

With a feigned offence the omega straightens his hat ‘Hey, I get a lot of compliments wearing this thing.’

They stare at each other for too long. Billy is forgetting how to use his tongue.

Steve locks the shutter before he takes the cigarette from behind Billy’s ear and places it between his lips. ‘Thanks for your help though, seriously,’ he says with a grin. ‘I’ll have to pay you back sometime.’

The alpha almost whimpers. ‘Guess you will.’

More of the store lights flicker off until the two are alone in the half-darkness. Steve ducks under his arm and smirks from behind the cigarette. ‘See you tomorrow, Captain.’

‘It’s Billy,’ he shouts after the omega, ‘and I’m not working tomorrow!’ But Steve is already gone by the time the words echo.

* * *

The next day Billy is overly annoyed at the fact he has to spend his day off babysitting his sister and her weird friend Eleven at the mall. Max endlessly pulls the two into shop after shop. Even without a good allowance or a shitty paying day job, Max buys everything with the colour red on it.

Right now, Billy is sitting outside a fitting room at _Forever 21_ , fingers on his temples as Eleven stares wordlessly at Max in yet another red shirt.

‘What do you think?’ She asks, turning around slowly.

Billy moans, ‘I think it looks like the last seven shirts.’

The young omega crosses her arms. ‘I wasn’t asking you, dingus.’

‘Dingus?’

‘Yeah, dingus.’ She turns to Eleven who just says:

‘I like it.’

Billy has to fight the sudden urge to bash his head against the mirror until he can see his own brain, but Max’s endless fashion shows have severely put him off the colour red.

‘Look,’ he pleads, ‘buy the damn shirt, I couldn’t give a shit, but I’d really like to see sunlight today.’

Max smirks. ‘Mom says you shouldn’t swear in front of me, _William.’_

‘Damn is not a swear word, _Maxine,’_ he rivals.

‘You said shit,’ Eleven mediates and Billy bites his tongue. If the sheriff’s daughter came home swearing Billy knows who’ll get the blame.

As a final act of mercy Max says, ‘I think I’m gonna buy it,’ leaving Billy to carry yet another bag around the mall until they finally stop at the fountain.

Billy can’t resist the urge to look over to _Jolly Roger’s_ where Barb flips him off. He laughs and returns the sentiment, grateful he doesn’t have to endure the dreaded Friday lunch shift. Max tugs on his jacket.

‘Give me ten dollars,’ she demands, ‘I want ice cream.’

The alpha narrows his eyes, ‘I work hard for my money. You think I’m going to spend over an hour’s wage on some annoying brat who doesn’t say please?’

Max’s smile looks more like she’s bearing her teeth, ‘please?’

Powerless against the omega’s mock charm he pulls out his wallet before flinching. ‘Wait, ice cream?’

On que Billy’s eyes snap to _Scoops Ahoy_ where Steve looks up from the counter, lips half way between amused scoff and genuine smile. The alpha doesn’t even register his feet moving towards him, or Max slipping the ten dollar note from his hands.

‘Ahoy!’ Steve exclaims as they enter, voice perfectly encapsulating the enthusiasm of the custom service industry, ‘would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavour with me?’

Max and Eleven both laugh.

Billy snorts. The sight of the omega makes his chest tighten. He swears they’d somehow made the shorts even shorter. The already establishes line parts for him as they approach the counter. ‘I mean I could mock the outfit all day, but that welcome was by far the worst excuse for sea puns I’ve ever heard.’

‘Company policy,’ Steve winks. ‘And besides I heard _Jolly Roger’s_ names all their dishes with pirate puns.’

‘Well we had to stop calling them Cracking Kraken Rings because of allergy reason,’ he explains, ‘and because they tasted like shit.’

The laugh from the omega sends a warm flood of pride across his chest.

Pushing past him, Max impatiently slaps the money on the counter. ‘Steve, the usual.’

The omega grins. ‘I’ve got it,’ he points to Max, ‘a rocky road with a cherry on top, classic but calorific.’ He points to Eleven, ‘and a white chocolate ice cream but you want me to use the milk chocolate scooper because you’re a girl who’s not afraid to make demands.’ The two girls giggle and nod their heads. Finally, he points at Billy, ‘and don’t tell me… you look like a pistachio guy to me. Or rum and raisin to go with the whole pirate life aesthetic.’

Even mentioning the ice cream flavours causes his stomach to turn, but Steve is just that goddamn pretty that he graciously accepts the ice cream cone when he hands it over, delaying the transaction long enough to feel the omega’s soft skin.

Max furrows her brow, ‘actually Billy is lactose-’

 _‘-Billy_ is a total cookie dough.’ He interrupts, pushing the girl behind him, ‘but nice try, sailor.’

Steve takes him by the gaze. The alpha can see his own enamoured expression reflecting back off the deep brown of Steve’s eyes. After a few beats of silence the omega blinks slowly, eyelashes flickering downwards as he pushes the money back across the counter.

‘On the house,’ Steve says, ‘let’s call it payback for yesterday.’

Billy frowns, ‘you sure your boss won’t mind?’ His gaze shifts to the backroom.

The omega smiles, posture relaxed as he stands a little straighter. ‘Don’t worry, he’s not in today.’

Max groans loudly, ‘Can you hurry up, Billy? I’d like to see the sunlight today.’

Billy takes a slow unrehearsed lick of his rum and raisin ice cream in reply. The omega watches his movement as his sister pulls him from the store.

‘Glad we’re even, Billy.’ Steve calls out after him, tipping his sailor hat before turning his attention to the next customer.

Max laughs as they make their way back to the car, chocolate ice cream dripping down her arm as he says, ‘you’re totally going to shit your pants from all that dairy later.’

He takes the cherry from the top of her cone and slaps her sticky hands from his clean car. ‘Don’t fucking swear.’

* * *

On Monday morning Billy makes sure to dedicate an extra ten minutes to do his hair which renders pointless as soon as he puts his pirate hat back on. The alpha would never admit to either making an effort or being optimistic about a work day, but his dreams had been plagued by the image of Steve sitting on the bow of a ship begging him to do the _Titanic_ move as they sailed through an ocean of ice cream.

Billy woke up with a painful stomach ache and a sudden urge to shit himself.

A weekend of sick days later and he was back at work and on a diet of anything but ice cream. Even the smell from the alcohol he was pouring was causing his stomach to turn.

Barb looks unimpressed as she collects a tray of drinks from the bar. ‘Are you emotionally constipated right now or like actually constipated?’

The alpha wants to correct her because since Friday afternoon he’s been the opposite of constipated. Instead he just pours tequila into the cups and says, ‘I’m just in deep brooding thought.’

The beta laughs. She takes one of the lemon wedges from a cup and sucks on it, face not turning sour as she smirks. ‘Don’t tell me you’re wondering how to fill your workday without staring at Harrington’s ass.’

Billy looks across at the ice cream shop to see an unknown female omega unenthusiastically scooping ice cream to a gaggle of school children. Somehow sensing the sad annoyance of the alpha, the girl in the sailor costume narrows her eyes at him.

He swallows. ‘Just wondering how many _Let’s Get Shipfaced_ cocktails I have to make before I kill myself.'

Barb places the chewed lemon into his hand. ‘I’ll put my money on twelve.’

‘I’m flattered you think I have that much will to live,’ Billy retorts.

Their manager appears and gestures Barb to the waiting table, giving Billy an exhausted look when he sees the half-eaten lemon in his hand. Billy rolls his eyes and throws it into the trash.

He has to make twenty-one more cocktail pitchers before his shift ends so he rewards himself with a shot of tequila before he half-runs from the restaurant. Glumly he looks across at Scoops Ahoy replaying the image of Steve trying to close the shutters. The current sailor-clad omega however simply slams the shutter down without a sweat.

Once again, the girl turns towards him. This time she shouts, ‘what the fuck you want, alpha boy?’

He checks behind his shoulder. No one else was there. He takes a step towards her. _‘Alpha boy?’_

‘Yeah, alpha boy.’ She crosses her arms. After a long shift the omega’s mascara has smudged slightly under her eyes. If she didn’t look so cold, Billy could have sworn she’d been crying. Her cold eyes get even colder as she gets closer. ‘What do you want?’

Billy scratches the back of his neck nervously. ‘I was just wondering where Steve was?’

The girl snorts. ‘He’s busy howling at the moon.’

_‘Howling at the moon?’_

She waves her hands in the air. ‘Yeah you know like, howling at the moon? Riding the midnight train? Putting coal in his basement?’

The confusion on the alpha’s face only grows.

‘He’s having his heat jackass,’ she says. Her tone is so unapologetic Billy feels ridiculous for blushing.

He matches her and steps forward again, the two facing each other in a mock Mexican standoff. ‘Those are definitely not euphemisms for a heat,’ he says.

The girl shoves a denim jacket over her uniform, sailor hat tilting to reveal the dark roots of her hair. ‘Like you know anything about heats, alpha boy.’ She pulls out her phone to send a text giving him the impression the conversation was over. As Billy goes to turn away she speaks again, eyes not moving from the glow of her phone screen. ‘Want me to pass on a message to him? Maybe some roses? Or just a friendly neighbourhood reminder that you’re still stalking him.’

‘I’m not stalking him,’ he defends.

The omega clicks her tongue. ‘No, you just like to watch him without his knowledge,’ she slips her phone into her jacket pocket, ‘I’m so sorry for offending you mighty alpha, you’re a dignified peeping tom.’

Billy’s suddenly aware of his own scent, alert and challenging. ‘And who are you exactly?’

This time she laughs. ‘You’d know if you were any better at stalking. I’m Robin, Steve’s best friend.’ The last part of her statement is the only time her tone shifts to serious, the rest of her comments make the alpha feel like he’s not part of some cruel inside joke.

The omega yawns.

‘I was just concerned, scared something might have happened,’ he attempts again.

‘Like what? Scared he got pledged by another pirate.’

Billy shuffles. ‘No, it’s your boss. He gives me… creepy vibes.’

Whatever weird dominance game they’re playing suddenly fades. Robin laughs humourlessly. _‘Vibes?_ That man’s a goddamn earthquake. He calls my Tiny Tits.’

Billy’s gaze flickers subconsciously to her chest.

‘Yes, I know I have tiny tits,’ she exasperates. ‘Look Romeo, your princess is in another castle.’ She raises her hand to her chin and pretends to search the air for an answer to a question Billy’s not sure he asked. ‘Although,’ she continues, ‘if you get me the number of the hot girl from Jamba Juice I’ll make sure to tell Steve how charming you were when you came to defend his honour.’

The alpha exhales, finally realising the intention of this unnerving conversation. ‘Which girl?’

Robin looks unnaturally flustered. ‘The hot red head omega. I think she said her name was Tammy but as soon as she started talking I blacked out. She smells like oranges.’

Billy has to catch the nervousness in his chest. He’s never had such an open conversation with a gay omega before. But the warm familiar sting of unrequited attraction makes the shock slide off easily. ‘Why don’t you just ask her yourself?’

She crawls deeper inside her jacket. ‘Because she spends all her day looking at you.’ The omega’s voice is fragile, Billy can feel the exhaustion in her tone.

Despite himself, he smirks. ‘Well if you know she watches me then you must watch her watching me watch Steve. That makes you like, a quadruple peeping tom.’

For a moment he fears he took the joke too far until he sees a glimpse of a smile in the corner of her cracked lips. ‘How about you get me Tammy’s number and I don’t tell Steve that you hit on me.’

Billy scoffs. ‘You’re not my type.’

The omega gestures to his entirety, ‘and you’re definitely not mine, asshole.’

They both smirk into the silence. Billy breeching the space between them with an outstretched hand. ‘Deal?’ he asks.

Robin shakes on it.

* * *

Tammy from _Jamba Juice_ is, despite Robin’s high praises, the most boring person Billy has ever had the displeasure of meeting. She has a nervous laugh that creeps into any pause in the conversation, fingers constantly tugging at her braided hair. The alpha finally understands the rose-tinted glasses of teenage romance.

The omega starts laughing again so Billy musters up the last of his bachelor alpha charm despite his lack of enthusiasm.

‘So,’ he chimes, placing his elbows onto the counter. ‘How about you give me your number?’ He punctuates the statement my taking a long sip of his juice. Billy had to schedule flirting with the boring omega in his lunch break causing his attention to wander quicker. The liquid hitting his empty stomach just reminds him how hungry he is. God, he hoped this would be over quickly.

Fate seems to mock him because Tammy says, ‘I’ll only give you my number if you take me out first.’

Billy manages to supress his groan. ‘Out out?’ The alpha wasn’t sure he wanted to go as far as to whore himself out to get into Steve’s good books. Although he’d done a lot more for a lot less to a lot less attractive.

Maybe he’s in the wrong business.

The omega bites her lip. ‘You could buy me lunch,’ she suggests, ‘I could take my break now. Although I can’t be too long because I’ll have to close the stall.’

The mention of food spikes his interest. ‘Sure, where do you want to go?’

Tammy exits the stall and straightens her skirt. ‘I like ice cream?’

‘Of course, you do,’ he says giving up all hope of a relaxing lunch break.

Billy drags his feet to _Scoops Ahoy_ where he slides into a booth and searches the menu for anything dairy free. Unsurprisingly there’s nothing. He looks over at the counter where Robin’s expression looks livid. She’s viciously mouthing words at him, arms flailing around.

The alpha was never good at charades, so he turns back to Tammy who’s intently watching him.

‘You’re like so handsome,’ she says giggling again. ‘Me and my friend talk about you all the time. Not like in a creepy way. Her names Madison, she says you two used to hook up way back when. Not that I care, you seem like super sweet.’

Billy waits for the monologue to finish until he nods his head. ‘Ha, thanks.’

When Tammy starts pulling her hair again Robin comes over to their table with a notebook. ‘Ahoy or whatever,’ she growls through gritted teeth, ‘what would you like to order?’

Tammy’s smile doesn’t falter. ‘I’d like to have a fudge brownie sundae, please!’ She hands her menu back to Robin, eyes carrying the smile in a frustratingly wholesome way.

The omega waitress looks completely love struck before she turns to him. ‘And what would you like?’ she harshly quietens her tone, ‘Asshole.’

Billy creases his brow until he realises the awkward situation. The defensive smell emitted by Robin is overwhelmed by a sour loneliness that makes the alpha actually sympathise with her. This time the mascara under Robin’s eye looks more depressing.

Tammy starts giggling again.

Not dropping Robin’s stare, he hands her back the menu. ‘Actually, she’ll have the low-fat vanilla cone, one scoop,’ he announces. Billy is trying to make his voice sound as cocky and unlikable as possible, a performance that wasn’t that hard to muster.

The two omegas look absolutely horrified as they process his words.

Billy winks at Robin. ‘I think Tammy here could stand to lose a few pounds. Maybe if you act like a nice little omega she can donate some of her back fat to you. Would you like that, _Tiny Tits?’_

Finally catching on the ruse Robin slaps him enthusiastically across the face. Before he can recover Tammy slaps him too.

‘You are such an asshole,’ the red head screams, ‘I can’t believe you would say that to an omega.’

Billy can’t tell if it’s the burning aftershock of getting slapped twice or the embarrassment from the entire ice cream parlour watching the scene in horrific fascination. Without knowing his intentions he’s aware of what an asshole he looks like right now.

Sensing the uneasiness in the air the alpha scurries back over to _Jolly Roger’s,_ turning around to see Robin comfort the crying omega, hands coddled in her hair. For a moment Robin looks up and sends him a warm smile. She mouths a “thank you” through the window.

Billy wears the bruise with a strange pride when he sees the two holding hands the next day.

* * *

The next Monday Steve is back at work like normal. The only difference since his absence is the relentless yawn he attempts to supress between his hands in the few pauses between customers. Although the tiredness may be less a post-heat symptom but a consequence of the sudden boom in customers since his return. Billy watches a large group of alpha teenagers take turns trying to chat the omega up while they order. Steve just tilts his pretty head and winks at them.

His tip jar is overflowing by lunchtime.

It seems Steve’s boss had called for reinforcements as Robin turns up part way through the day, climbing over the counter only half dressed in her sailor uniform. Billy’s grateful that she spends the rest of her shift snapping at the alphas who get too eager to please.

He spends the rest of his shift flickering his attention between the mall clock and _Scoops Ahoy_ until his boss lets him leave.

Across the plaza Steve turns off the light and kisses Robin on the cheek as she drags her feet to the mall exit. Seemingly anticipating the alpha’s interest, the brunette waits patiently beside the shutter for him.

Billy approaches with a wolfish grin. ‘I know you’re missed this,’ he jests as he does a slow spin, pirate coat billowing behind that just makes the post-heat scent of Steve more noticeable.

The omega wolf whistles. He twirls the store key around his finger. He’s gesturing, dancing his feet. Steve is leading him like a dog on a leash.

Billy only notices this after he’s close enough for the boy’s scent to refuse any disobedience.

‘Robin’s been singing your praises all day,’ Steve muses. ‘It means a lot coming from her, she’s not really an alpha person.’

Billy tries to act humble but fails miserably, a smirk tugging at the ends of his smile. ‘What can I say, I’m a great guy.’

Steve rolls his eyes. ‘Whatever you say.’ He stops twirling the key and leans away from the wall. ‘Want to come in for ice cream? I have officially perfected my scoop technique so my boss can’t tell that I’ve been eating all the good flavours.

‘God no,’ Billy cries. His instincts speak before his manners can as he replays the memory of stomach cramps and eventful bathroom trips. ‘Not after last time.’

‘What was wrong with last time?! I can give you cookie dough instead,’ Steve whines. He seems genuinely offended by Billy’s dismissal, the undertone of hurt in his scent.

In apology the alpha seizes the shutter handle and pulls it down with one hand, arm straining as he places all his balance to the arm besides Steve’s head. He leans closer, face manipulating a look Steve’s sure he stole from a gentleman. ‘I’ve got a confession to make.’

‘You’re not a real pirate?’ Steve gasps. He rests his head back against the wall to give himself a better vantage point on the alpha.

‘No.’ Billy fascinates himself with the way the omega lengthens his neck, scent content under the cover of the alpha’s body. Billy looks left and right dramatically before he lowers his voice into a stage whisper. ‘I’m lactose intolerant.’

Steve furrows his brow. ‘You’re lying, I watched you eat my specially made on the house rum and raisin ice cream.’ The omega pouts his lips. ‘I can’t believe you’d lie in front of _Scoops Ahoy,_ the worship place of all dairy goods. You love dairy.’

‘Or maybe you’re just really good at selling ice cream,’ Billy suggests, casting his gaze down to the omega’s hands that gradually ghost across his chest.

Steve leans closer, ever so slightly. The shift in his scent, the way he bears his throat, the fascination in his eyes. Billy’s got the omega right where he wants him. Hook, line and sinker. He bends forward until he can feel Steve’s warm breath on his neck.

The omega smiles sweetly. ‘You think you’re so fucking smooth, don’t you?’ he says. There’s a humour in the boy’s eye but the words turn from cute to sickly sweet too fast for Billy’s liking. Steve strokes his chest with an index finger until he graces his stubbly jawline. ‘You think you can walk over here with your pretty blue eyes and blonde hair and make me fall to my knees in front of you.’ The warmth of the omega’s intoxicating scent shifts. He smells like summer now, like heatwaves that make the words burn slightly as they make themselves known.

Billy leans closer as if to tourist the feeling of the boy’s body pressed against his. The alpha’s voice is warped with confidence. ‘That depends,’ he flirts, ‘is it working?’

The omega brings a hand to Billy’s chest, the presence strong through the thin material of his shirt. Steve keeps his hand there, marvelling at the sensation of literally holding the alpha’s heart in his hands. And just as soon as it’s pulling him closer, Steve’s hand pushes him away.

‘This is one booty you have to actually work for,’ is all he says as he walks away and doesn’t look back. Even in the half-darkness Billy can smell the slick stain on the back of Steve’s too short shorts as he leaves him, stranded in the empty mall.


	2. Sea Sickness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was WAY later than I planned but I had my graduation ceremony and I had to rearrange the story’s plan to fit another chapter in. Good news is that next chapter is half-written though, so I promise you won’t be waiting this long again!
> 
> Even better news this chapter is a beast so hopefully is was worth the wait!

Billy spends his entire morning wage on Robin’s lunch because she claimed she’d forgotten her purse. It’s only after he agrees to pay does she miraculous find it and uses her loyalty card to get free chicken nuggets. The omega had ordered a burger, fries, soda and onion rings to compliment said chicken nuggets. It was only under the impression that Robin wouldn’t be able to finish that much food did he pay for it all. But now they’re ten minutes into their lunch break and there’s lettuce in her hair.

_‘Burger King_ fucking rules!’ she announces to the entire food court. An alpha that had been admiring her short skirt treats this performance as a justified reason to drop his stare.

‘Everything rules when you don’t have to pay for it,’ he retorts.

His reply is a wide-open smile that reveals a disgusting concoction of half-chewed up fast food. Not being able to stomach the sight he glances over at _Jamba Juice_ where Tammy scowls, threateningly blending a banana.

‘Isn’t your girlfriend going to get mad at you for talking to me?’ He asks pulling the pickles out of his burger.

Robin picks up the discarded gherkins and adds them to her own. ‘She’s not my girlfriend,’ the omega corrects, mouth full of too much bread for anyone to understand her. She swallows audibly. ‘Tammy just kisses me when she’s drunk and sometimes let’s my rub fake tan on her.’

The alpha licks ketchup from his fingers. ‘That’s pretty sweet though, right?’

‘It’s not awful,’ she says. ‘I saw her nipple yesterday which was cool.’ Robin’s tone is laidback and dismissive which Billy would believe if it wasn’t for her left-hand tearing helplessly at a napkin. ‘Besides she can’t be mad because I told her I was schooling you on omegan rights.’

Billy laughs into his straw. ‘Not having sex, lying… sounds like you’re married to me.’

The omega reaches over and steals one of his fries despite her own overflowing across the table. ‘Guess I realised you can’t make someone fall in love with you,’ she challenges with a raised eyebrow.

‘Steve’s different,’ is all he can say, voice not entirely confident enough to be spoken louder than the space between them. The linoleum floors and harsh artificial lighting of the food court makes the alpha feel like he’s being interrogated. He shuffles in his seat.

Deliberately, the omega slams her cup onto the table. ‘I know Steve,’ she insists, ‘you know Sailor Steve who bats his eyelashes and bends down to get extra tips. You just think he’s this pretty little thing you can win over by doing him favours. That’s what dogs do Billy, and right now you’re acting like a little bitch.’

Billy grinds his teeth, slumping deeper into his chair like a sulking child. ‘I don’t pay him to flirt with me.’ He doesn’t add the unanimous “but I totally would if it would work.” The alpha is long since matured past the idea that Steve is susceptible to his previously flawless charm. But he can’t ignore the possibility that the brunette wants to keep him around. ‘You weren’t there Robin, I could see the slick _dripping_ down his thighs.’

She rolls her eyes at the flare in his scent and the way his pupils dilate three times their usual size. ‘Yeah because he just got out of his heat,’ Robin says. ‘He’d cream his pants over anything, don’t flatter yourself.’

‘You weren’t there,’ Billy attempts to dismiss again but Robin grabs a handful of his hair, pulling him into her face as she speaks again.

‘Steve once moaned getting a _Dr Pepper_ from a vending machine because it jerked too hard.’ She shoves another handful of Billy’s fries into her mouth with her spare hand, words and actions all-consuming as she continues. ‘He once refused to go into the freezer because he said his nipples were too sensitive and he didn’t want to get hard at work. Christ he even tried to fuck himself with a-’

Billy’s pupils just get wider.

Robin pushes the alpha way, wiping the hand that was in his hair on her neck scarf. ‘You’re totally getting off on this. You brought this up just so you could hear dirty stories about my best friend, didn’t you?’

This time he reaches over and pours all her fries onto his tray. ‘It helps with the sting of loneliness knowing I’ll never find love,’ he grins.

‘You’re the worst person I have ever met,’ the omega finishes. Forgetting her anger, she uses her torn napkin to wipe the ketchup from Billy’s mouth. He realises that despite her hot temper and foreboding aura, Robin wasn’t completely immune to her omegan instincts.

Billy lets her continue to clean his face until she looks satisfied.

‘You really think he’s not into me,’ he asks with an unnaturally small voice.

She puts both her hands on his cheek and squishes them together. ‘Don’t sweat, pretty boy. I thought pirate’s liked adventure.’

The clock slowly ticks past their lunch break, so Billy throws the omega’s surprisingly empty wrappers away and turns towards her. Despite their growing friendship he’s never sure how to end their interactions. Although considering Robin’s treatment of their lunch time hangouts, Billy half expects her to rob him.

Interrupting his inner monologue, Robin throws her arms around him and nestles into his chest. Once again the entire food court watches them, Barb pointing at her watch from the window as the girl squeezes tighter.

‘Steve’s working tomorrow so you’ll be eating alone, alpha boy,’ she murmurs against his heartbeat. ‘Oh, and I already have a craving for Mexican food so next time meet me at the new burrito place. Apparently if you order two combo meals you get a margarita half price!’

Billy smiles despite himself. ‘I hate Mexican food.’

‘The two combo meals are for me, I don’t care what you want,’ she cackles. Robin doesn’t release him into his boss screams his name across the mall.

* * *

After showering the smell of seafood and sweat from his skin, Billy gets a call from an unknown number. He tries to come up with a plausible reason someone would call at his bedtime, a time he’s embarrassed to call ten thirty. The alpha hadn’t hooked up with anyone in a long time and everyone who actually knew him was aware of his loathing of phone call conversations.

Dressed only in a towel and a fearful expression he answers. ‘Hello?’

There’s a sharp inhale on the other end of the line. Billy was ready to hang up before the voice started speaking.

_‘Hey, it’s me!’_

The alpha sits down, too overwhelmed with surprise to stay balanced. ‘Steve?’ He asks cautiously, ‘how did you get my number?’

_‘Robin gave it me,’_ the omega answers worriedly, _‘she said she asked you.’_

‘I never gave Robin my-’ Billy casts his mind back to later that day, of the girl’s suspiciously long hug as she fiddled with his back pocket. He doesn’t know whether to scream at her or hug her back next time he sees her. He scrambles trying to defuse the situation, straightening his posture as if the omega was actually watching him. ‘Uh, what’s up?’

Steve shuffles on the end of the phone. _‘I know it’s short notice, and a little weird but some guys from our high school are throwing a party tonight and- well you know not_ your _high school, you weren’t at my high school. I’d totally remember if you were. But you could be there! At the party I mean, not my high school because…’_

The subject of every one of Billy’s workplace fantasies, the most fiercely witty omega he’d ever met, was somehow stumbling over his words. It feels sadistic when he smiles into the receiver. ‘Are you asking me out?’

Billy can hear the eye roll in the boy’s voice. _‘It’s not a date, asshole. Robin’s going as well and she just said I should ask you. Not that I don’t want you to go!’_ Steve’s usual confident voice finds itself after a long exhale. _‘I was sort of wondering if I could out-drink a pirate.’_

‘You’re like a foot shorter than me,’ Billy laughs, ‘I would totally out drink you, Harrington.’

_‘Fuck off! You’re a few inches taller at most. And I’m the undisputed keg stand champion of Hawkins High.’_

‘Although if I’m driving I probably shouldn’t drink too much. I could drive you both home then afterwards,’ Billy suggests, resisting the urge to groan at the fate of a sober party experience.

The omega clicks his tongue through the receiver, _‘Don’t feel any pressure really, I don’t want to seem like I’m roping you into something you don’t want to do. I just… I thought it would be nice to see you, like outside of work.’_

The alpha smirks, ‘It’s fine, really.’

_‘Cute! We’ll meet you at Tommy’s house in an hour,’_ Steve half-demands, tone slipping into that sickly-sweet pitch again. _‘I’ll text you the address. Don’t be late, captain.’_

The omega hangs up without a goodbye.

* * *

The absurdity of the stranger’s large suburban house decorated with drunk people is lessened only by the sight of Steve in his everyday clothes. Billy supresses a slight annoyance at the fact the omega isn’t dressed in his favourite sailor costume but there’s a warmth in his chest at the sight of his pretty face under the moonlight.

Steve taps on the passenger window as he leans against his Camaro. He’s wearing too skinny jeans and a shirt that shows off his collar bones. Billy swallows as he exits the car and takes in the sight of the omega in its purest form.

‘Thanks for coming,’ Steve smiles, ‘I hope my phone call wasn’t too creepy.’

On que Robin waltzes over with a bemused expression on her face. She looks so intimidating outside of her sailor suit that Billy almost forgets to glare at her.

‘It wasn’t creepy,’ Billy ensures, ‘not after Robin asked so nicely for it at lunch.’

Not sensing the sarcasm Steve relaxes and starts walking towards the house.

The alpha grabs Robin’s arm before she can follow him. ‘You’re a conniving little shit.’

Robin smiles mischievously. ‘Well if your phone pin wasn’t one-two-three you’d still be fiddling with your dick at home and I would have to pay for a taxi.’

Steve turns around towards them. ‘Are you sure it’s okay to drive us back? It’s totally fine if you want to get drunk, the party will probably be super lame anyway.’

‘It’s fine! Anyway, Robin offered to pay for my gas anyway so it’s no problem,’ Billy says with a grin, hoping Steve only caught the end of Robin’s sentence.

Reluctantly she hands him a ten dollar note from her bra.

Steve slows his pace to walk beside him. ‘I’ll be your designated sober friend then, I promise I won’t drink any more than you.’

Billy smiles down at the omega as they enter the house, ‘Deal.’

In the centre of the living room a group of alphas are playing a rambunctious drinking game that causes them to shout slurs at one another while throwing their cups against the wall. Sure enough the room smells like high school hormones and bad decisions, but Billy wondered if any of them had matured at all when one of the jocks smashes a beer bottle over his own head.

Robin picks up a shard of bloody glass and puts it in her pocket. ‘I’m going to go…’ she looks at the house cat cowering in the back garden, ‘mingle.’

Before Billy can register Robin’s departure, Steve leads him into the kitchen where a beta girl is vomiting into the sink. Her hand still clutches to a bottle of cheap vodka that’s spilt a sticky substance on the tile floor all the way up to the liquor table.

He turns to the omegas with a pointed stare. ‘You really went to high school with these guys?’

Steve shrugs his shoulders and hands him a beer. ‘High school is one of those things, as soon as you leave you realise how disgusting and shitty everything was.’

As if to punctuate his point the beta dry heaves once more.

‘I get you,’ Billy says.

The cheering from the longue grows louder as the girl re-enters through the door.

Steve climbs onto the kitchen island and grabs his own beer. ‘Like I used to be friends with these people or at least pretend to,’ he gestures to the drunken applause coming from the front room. ‘Now we’ve all graduated and we’re still sitting around drinking booze like we can’t legally buy it.’

Billy takes a sip of his beer, careful to ration himself. ‘Can’t all be shitty, I mean you’re still great friends with Robin.’

Steve laughs and throws his empty bottle into the recycling can but misses. The bottle smashes into the normal trash making the omega pout. To sooth himself, Steve grabs another beer and takes a sip. ‘Me and Robin weren’t friends in high school,’ he admits, wiping a spilled drop from his lips. ‘I knew of her, I mean there were only like six omegas in the whole school. We were just in different worlds back then.’

‘It’s weird,’ Billy says, ‘I can’t imagine you two not being a dynamic duo.’

The omega looks down at his emptying bottle, remembering his sober deal with Billy he doesn’t pick up another. Already his words slur slightly. ‘People change.’ The alpha briefly wonders if Steve was a philosophical drunk before he keeps talking. ‘Robin used to be this huge weirdo, she would dye her hair crazy colours and listen to heavy metal bands. She pretended to be Russian for a whole year so no one would talk to her. People only realised it was a lie when she aced her English exam.’

Steve smiles fondly.

‘She was a fucking loser,’ he continues, ‘but I guess I’m one too now so it works.’

Billy finishes his first beer and fiddles with the label. ‘Hawkins is weird. Back home Robin would have been the coolest girl at school, all mysterious and alternative.’

‘What backwards place do you come from?’ The omega asks in disbelief.

‘California.’

Steve grins widely and shuffles closer on his perch. ‘Like actual _California_ California?’ Steve exudes, ‘do you have a tribal tattoo? Do you know how to surf? Do you still call people dude?’

The alpha laughs. ‘No to the tattoo, yes to the surfing, and I don’t think anyone has said dude since the eighties.’

‘Bet moving to Hawkins was the worst thing that ever happened to you,’ Steve comments. His cheeks are flushed pink from the alcohol. ‘People usually come here to die. There’s nothing here except for funeral homes and a shitty mall.’

‘I don’t know,’ Billy muses, ‘I think Hawkins has a lot to offer.’

Sensing the flirtatious tone Steve raises his brow. ‘Like what?’

‘Well I heard of this super underground place called _Scoops Ahoy._ Apparently, their ice cream is amazing.’ Billy says in mock seriousness, a smile threatening to seep into his tone.

But Steve is full on laughing. ‘And you’re some sort of ice cream connoisseur?’

Billy places his bottle down, leaning closer to the omega as he sits back on the bar stool. ‘Definitely. Although I heard the customer service there is pretty shit.’

The omega gasps dramatically. ‘That sounds awful! I like my service with a smile.’ He’s close enough for Billy to smell the beer on his breath. Steve’s lips are still parted as if to imply he has never fully finished talking. Wordlessly the brunette stares at him like he’s somehow solvable.

‘Is that your roundabout way of asking me to get you another beer?’ Billy asks.

Steve licks his bottom lip as he looks over at the liquor table filled with every drink except beer. ‘Yes.’

The alpha stands up between the omega’s legs and watches him smile. Billy wants to press himself further against the warm body beneath him. He matches the omega’s mischievous expression. ‘You’re really good at that.’

‘Good at what?’ Steve asks.

Billy lightly tilts the omega’s face towards him. ‘At making me do whatever you want without _actually_ asking me.’

The space between them vibrates. ‘Would you prefer it if I asked you to go get me another beer from the garden?’

‘No,’ the alpha smirks as he drops his hand from his face, ‘I like it better when you’re all demanding.’

Conscious of the growing urge to kiss him, Billy puts a cigarette in his mouth and exits through the back door. He checks his pocket for a lighter but only finds his car keys, so he mouths the unlit cigarette as he walks around the garden.

He sees Robin bouncing alone on the trampoline, the steps up to her covered in empty bottles of beer. She’s created a mock fortress of solitude. Billy smiles at her but she’s too busy staring at the moon.

Before he debates scaring her, he hears a familiar voice behind him.

‘Are you stalking me, Hargrove?’ Barb asks. Billy turns to see her sitting on the porch with a wine cooler in her hand and a pretty girl to her right.

He approaches the pair with a confident smile. ‘You wish. Didn’t peg you as a party sort of girl.’

Barb rolls her eyes and crosses her legs. She looks surprisingly feminine outside of her pirate uniform. ‘And I didn’t peg you as a gate-crashed, but I guess you can never really know what monsters you work with.’

The pretty girl next to her speaks up, soft voice and slim posture contrasting her alpha scent. ‘You must be Billy,’ she says with a smile, ‘Barb’s told me a lot about you.’

Billy scoffs from behind his cigarette before tucking it behind his ear. ‘All good things I hope.’ He extends his hand towards her, wincing slightly at the soft coldness of her palm as she shakes it. ‘And you must be?’

‘Nancy,’ an unexpected voice answers.

Billy is the last one to turn towards Steve’s horrified expression at the back door. He steps towards them slowly, pulling the thin material of his shirt tighter around his small frame.

Barb rolls her eyes. ‘Of course you came here with Harrington.’

Steve seemingly takes the comment in his stride as he quickens his pace. He looks ready to perform some sort of dramatic monologue but when he’s close enough to touch, his lips flatline.

With an awkward shift Nancy speaks. ‘Steve… I uh, didn’t think you’d come.’

‘Why not? We went to the same high school, or don’t you remember?’ Steve yaps as he crosses his arms.

Nancy tries to smile. ‘Of course, I didn’t forget, it’s good to see you,’ her voice is trying to sound welcoming but the tension in the air doesn’t falter. After another ugly pause she adds, ‘you look good.’

The group of them stare at one another awkwardly.

Billy nudges Steve’s arm. ‘I’ll go get you that beer,’ he attempts as he turns away, but Steve grabs onto his leather jacket.

‘I can get it myself,’ he snaps as he walks back into the kitchen with Billy trailing uselessly behind him. Without taking time to exhale the omega walks over to the liquor table and takes a large swig of tequila. Even while gasping for air he readies the bottle for another sip.

The alpha calms his movement. ‘You know tequila is really better when you mix it with something.’ He takes the bottle from Steve and pats a bar stool, ‘Sit down and I’ll make you a proper drink. This is my job after all.’

Steve watches him pour various mixers into a glass. He looks ashamed when Billy hands him the drink. ‘Sorry I broke our sober truce. I knew this whole night would be a mistake.’

Billy takes the stool next to him, spinning around to place the omega’s drink on the counter. ‘Then why did you come?’

‘I feel like it would have been worse not to come, that whole know your enemy crap.’ He immediately returns to nursing the drink after Billy puts a straw into his cup.

‘And that Nancy girl is your mortal enemy?’

Steve finishes the drink with a satisfied slurp. ‘Close. She’s my ex.’

‘Fuck,’ Billy exhales.

‘Fuck indeed,’ the omega agrees. He swivels back around on his chair as the alpha mixes him another drink in sympathy. Steve fiddles with his straw. ‘I thought all this high school shit was over but it’s not, it never is.’

Billy hands him the drink, careful to dilute the alcohol as he watches the omegas brown eyes grow even darker. ‘Did you guys have a messy breakup?’

‘Sort of.’ He quietens his tone as he watches his reflection frown from his drink. ‘We dated for over a year and I was crazy about her. I thought it was going really well, thought I was doing everything right. But then one day I walked in on her having sex with another alpha. Like straight up fucking in her kitchen. I didn’t know what to say so I just walked out.’

From the kitchen window Billy can see Nancy whisper intensely to Barb in the garden. She looks so delicately commanding in the open space.

Billy turns back to the omega. ‘What a fucking bitch.’

‘She’s not a bitch!’ Steve defends. He tries to overwhelm the sadness in his scent as he spills his drink across the counter. Desperately, the omega tries to clean it with paper towels but he’s too drunk to move his hands the way he wants. He continues as Billy takes over. ‘Sure, she did a kind of shitty thing but I should have seen it coming. And she’s dating him now, the alpha, his name is Jonathan and he’s actually really nice. They seem happy but it must be hard, it’s a small town and same dynamic couples aren’t really that accepted.’

Billy throws the soiled paper towels into the trash can. ‘Stop with that omega bullshit.’

Steve’s defensive tone turns high-pitched, ‘What omega bullshit?!’

‘That whole,’ the alpha heighteners his tone dramatically, _‘I don’t care if I get hurt, as long as everyone else is happy that’s fine by me!’_

The omega sips at the unsplit liquid from his cup. ‘I do not sound like that.’

Billy smiles and takes the empty cup away from him. ‘You really do.’ The omega is swaying dangerously now. Steve looks up at him with a dazed expression, the alpha moves a lock of hair from his eyes. ‘You know you’re allowed to sympathise with someone but also hold them accountable. Nancy did a bitchy thing to you, you’re allowed to think she’s a bitch.’

Steve grins and lowers his voice into a stage whisper. ‘I guess she’s kind of a bitch.’

‘That’s better,’ the alpha smiles.

Someone enters the room, so Billy takes a step back from the omega. The beta boy opens the fridge and caries a tray of Jell-O shots into the longue. Like a drunken puppy Steve jumps from his stool and follows him.

By the time he gets to the doorway a hand appears around the omega’s waist and pulls him into the room. Billy follows only to be greeted by the sight of large group of alphas pulling Steve into the centre of the room. The alpha that holds the omega to his chest is grinning, his freckles giving him the mock appearance of innocence that betrays his drunken shouts.

‘Alright tigers,’ he screams to his audience who clap as he jumps onto the coffee table with Steve nestled against him. The omega seems more confused than anything as he fidgets in the alpha’s grip. ‘In celebration of our long-awaited reunion, Steve The Machine here is going to perform his infamous party trick.’

Overwhelmed by shock, Billy looks around the room in hopes of seeing a single shared expression of disgust. The roaring of the crowd just intensifies as Steve struggles. Outside Billy can see Robin’s outline still relaxed on the trampoline along with Nancy and Barb who seem suspended in their own oblivious conversation.

The thudding of the stereos sets up a crescendo.

‘Come on Stevie!’ The freckled alpha leers, ‘why don’t you get on your knees like the good old days?’

A soft whimper erupts from Steve’s lips. ‘Tommy, please let go. You’re hurting me.’

The sound of the omega’s cries pulls Billy from his daze as he storms over to the coffee table. He doesn’t trust his voice in his anger, simply yanks the alpha’s arm from around Steve’s hip.

Billy catches the omega as he stumbles into his arms, carefully placing Steve down on the carpet. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ Billy snaps at the alpha who uses his height from the coffee table to scowl down at him.

Tommy’s hand twitches as he jumps from the table. ‘Who the fuck am I? More like who the fuck are you? This is my house and my party, and I sure as hell didn’t invite you.’

The two alphas are toe to toe. Billy’s sure the room reeks like testosterone, but he can’t bring himself to care. He postures his chest further out. ‘So, you think because this is your house you can treat everyone in it like your property.’

Tommy nods to the crowd to inflate his ego. He scowls back at Billy with a twisted smirk. ‘Oh, I get it now, you’re Steve’s new plaything.’ He raises his voice above the thudding music. ‘I guess Steve The Machine really is that thirsty for a knot. Although a bit of friendly advice man, I’d makes sure you wrap it up before you-’

Billy punctuates the alpha’s statement with a hard right hook to the jaw. The offending alpha tries to punch him back, but Billy’s senses are far soberer. The next punch sends Tommy to the floor and all Billy can process is the dull pain in his knuckles as he hits the alpha over and over again.

Tommy feels like meat beneath his hands.

A horrified silence fills the room as Billy beats the alpha into unconsciousness, all party guests rushing over to the living room to stare wordlessly at the scene.

The alpha shivers as he looks down at his blood-soaked hands.

‘Billy?’ someone cries from behind him. Terrified, Billy turns towards the sound to see Steve clutching his stomach. ‘I don’t feel so good,’ is all the omega can say before he vomits across the floor.

Steve’s bile meets the bloodstain on the carpet as Tommy fades back into consciousness.

The beaten alpha stares hollowly at the mess before gradually stumbling to his feet. ‘Get the fuck out of my house and take your whore with you!’ he snaps, scrambling to gain whatever dignity he had left.

Quickly, Billy lifts Steve into his arms and calls for Robin who comes stumbling through the crowd. She looks confused but follows obediently as they leave the house, blood laced footsteps following their exit.

* * *

The car ride is filled with a nervous energy, passing tarmac merging with the suburban skyline as the alpha tries to catch his breath. Billy indicates to turn into the next street but cannot bring himself to accelerate.

It’s in the drop of adrenaline that Robin speaks. ‘You know what we should do?’ The question is rhetorical, but the omega forgets she was the one who spoke and drunkenly replies, ‘we should get _Taco Bell._ ’

Billy looks into the rear-view mirror with a dumbstruck expression on his face. ‘I just kicked the shit out of some alpha who grabbed Steve and all you can say is, let’s get _Taco Bell?’_

Hearing his name, the other omega rouses, too drunk to comprehend the seriousness in Billy’s voice. ‘We’re gonna get _Taco Bell?’_

‘Yes!’ Robin screams. The excitement of her voice grows infectious as Steve joins in with drunken laughter. They start chanting to one another, feet kicking Billy’s seat.

The alpha turns around, scolding the two like children. ‘Do you want to crash and die?’

Robin smiles, ‘Yes!’

Billy drives down the same street as before. Steve had written down his address, but it was hard to translate the drunken sprawl on the back of an old receipt. He exhales. ‘I’m driving you home and then I’m going to bed,’ he monotones as he checks the clock. ‘Although I have to be at work five hours.’

Steve bats his eyelashes at him in the mirror. ‘Pretty please, Billy?’

Robin joins in with the chorus of begging until he angrily pulls into the drive thru of _Taco Bell._ The alpha can feel the warm scent of Mexican food seeping into his leather seats.

He leans over to put his coffee into a cup holder. ‘Don’t spill anything.’

‘Don’t spill anything,’ Robin parrots back with a mocking tone, licking a glob of salsa from her arm.

As he drives from the parking lot he watches the two omegas feast on the food. Steve is slumped down like a drunken toddler, seatbelt cutting into his windpipe as he cries, ‘I’m tired!’

‘I’ve never felt more alive!’ The other omega announces, but by the time Billy turns the next corner her giggles distort into low snores.

Despite the unfamiliar neighbourhood and dark surrounding, the alpha somehow manages to stumble upon Steve’s house, large exterior protruding against the skyline. He parks outside the gate and curses.

‘Steve, what’s the code?’ he asks the jumbled mess of pale limbs in the backseat.

The omega blinks blearily, a drunken grin on his face. ‘You askin’ for my number?’

Billy rolls his eyes. ‘Yeah the number to your big rich boy gate.’

‘It’s my birthday,’ the omega answers after a long silence. His face is pressed against the window, drawing a smiley face over his furrowed expression absentmindedly.

‘I don’t know when your birthday is,’ Billy replies and Steve screeches.

‘You’re a bad friend!’ He sits up in his seat, as if suddenly realising where he was. ‘I’m a cancer.’

The alpha snaps his head towards the answer, eyebrow raised. Slowly he realises the omega is talking about his zodiac sign. Billy smacks his head on the steering wheel, the sound of the horn disturbing the serenity of dawn. ‘That means nothing to me.’

‘That’s because you’re a fucking Virgo. No an Aries! You are _such_ a fire sign.’ The pitch of Steve’s drunken slurs softens. ‘My birthday is July seventeenth.’

Billy stiffens. ‘That was last week, why didn’t you say anything?’

The omega tangles himself in the seatbelt as he tries to undo it. ‘Was in my heat and it was so sad and lonely!’ He cries in a sing song voice, the sound a parody of the birds that are slowing rousing in the morning sun.

Billy types in the code and parks as close to the front door as possible. As soon as he flicks the child-lock off Steve falls from the vehicle in a puddle. With a steady hand Billy pulls him to his feet and takes the house key from his pocket.

From the backseat Robin snorts in her sleep.

‘She can crash here,’ Steve murmurs, mind sobering in the chill of the outside air. ‘You can too if you want. Could stay with me.’

Billy unlocks the front door, supporting Steve as he stumbles. ‘I’ll stay with you long enough to make sure you don’t choke on your own vomit.’

On instinct Steve yawns widely and crawls up the large staircase.

The house is eerily quiet, every small grunt of the drunk omega echoing throughout the hallway.

Billy walks back over to his car and flicks Robin in the face. ‘Robin! Wake up I’m not carrying you,’ he says loudly into her ear. ‘And you’re paying to clean the guacamole from my seat you mess.’

‘I am a mess,’ she agrees, eyes blinking open with palms outstretched, waiting to be carried. ‘Why am I such a mess?’

With a sigh Billy picks her up, stumbling slightly at her surprising weight. ‘At least you’re a hot mess,’ he tells her to stop her wriggling in his arms.

She giggles drunkenly against his neck, clutching at a box of twelve cold tacos. ‘I’m the _hottest_ mess.’

Unsure, Billy places Robin down on the sofa to assess the situation. The house is an endless maze of doors. He watches Robin cuddle tiredly into the leather sofa so he just folds a blanket over her, stopping the taco in her hand from falling onto an expensive looking cushion.

He can hear the shuffling sound of the other omega up the stairs, small muttered curses that disturb the houses lavish interior. Billy follows the noises to a half open door that shows Steve kneeling on his bed, limbs a tangled mess as he tries to take off his skinny jeans.

‘Help!’ the mess of brown hair cries.

Billy doesn’t move. ‘I don’t know, this seems…’

Steve flips over to face him. The alpha can see the colour of his boxers as he tries to tug his jeans further. Steve stares at him with a look of quiet deviance. ‘It’s just my ass.’

‘There’s nothing just about your ass,’ Billy replies with a smile. He moves closer to hold the cuffs of his jeans as the omega fidgets free. Morally, the alpha can’t revel at the beautiful sight of the omega’s pale thighs and dazed expression. Instead he just watches Steve nest into a cocoon of pillows.

He places an empty waste-paper basket by the omega’s bed. ‘If you need to throw up, do it this way,’ he instructs. At the other side of Steve’s bed sits a morbid looking teddy bear with one eye and socks for legs. It looks pathetically adorable in the omega’s arms.

‘You’re so stupid pretty,’ Steve whispers into the bear’s chewed ears. ‘Want to just squish your stupid alpha face.’

Billy pushes the hair form the boy’s furrowed brow. ‘Goodnight, princess.’

He turns to leave but the omega catches his hand. ‘I had a dream about you,’ Steve admits, voice so relaxed it sounded like he was already asleep.

Billy leans closer with an inquisitive raised eyebrow. ‘What kind of dream?

‘A nice dream, a great dream.’ Steve rubs his neck into the toy, words trailing into unconsciousness. ‘You were so good to me, made me feel so…’

The alpha waits for him to continue until a fluttering of tiny snores draws him back to reality. He reaches for the door handle making sure to memorise the way the omega snuggles into the comforter.

Billy leaves the light on.

* * *

The next time Billy sees him, Steve is running across the mall in an un-ironed sailor uniform. His hoodie is inside out and there’s a knot in his hair shaped like his pillow. The alpha watches Steve apologise to his boss as the man pulls him into the shop and points at his watch furiously.

Billy can feel the hangover in Steve’s desperate expression.

‘You look like shit,’ Barb comments. The beta looks like she does every day: dead inside but fully lucid.

Turning away from the window Billy gives her a stern look. ‘I feel like shit.’

‘I’m not surprised after last night.’ She tucks a chewed pencil behind her ear and starts tapping on her pad with the first drink order of the day. ‘You should have heard what they were saying about you when you left.’

Billy rips the order from her pad and turns his back to the beta. ‘I don’t give a shit what those assholes think about me.’

Barb hums from behind him. ‘I can’t deny that most of them are assholes, but still.’

The smell of rum makes the throbbing in Billy’s knuckles intensify. He places the glass on the bar a little too harshly. ‘Thought you were an activist, Barb. Wouldn’t peg you as the sort of girl that turns a blind eye to assault.’

‘And by assault you mean beating someone up within an inch of their life,’ she challenges with a fast brewing anger. ‘I’m not saying you weren’t justified but you can’t stand in front of me claiming some sort of moral high ground, Billy.’ Conscious of the customers Barb lowers her tone. ‘I didn’t see what happened with Steve, if I did I would have said something.’

Billy has the audacity to look regretful. ‘You’re right I shouldn’t blame you. It just blows my mind that all those assholes were enjoying watching Steve struggle. You should have heard the things Tommy said to him.’

The beta sighs. ‘Tommy is the worst sort of alpha. You don’t win by beating him down, don’t stoop to his level.’

‘I’m not that sort of alpha,’ he exudes, ‘I don’t want to be the guy that hits people, I’m not-’ Billy catches his breath. The continuation of _“I’m not like my dad”_ circles around his mind.

Barb senses the change in his scent. ‘You’re not that sort of alpha, that’s why you defended Steve. But…’ she sighs, ‘But you’re sort of my friend and I don’t want you to get hurt trying to change guys like Tommy because you can’t.’

The alpha finishes mixing the drinks and looks bashfully at the bar. ‘Sorry I implied you’re a bitch.’

‘Sorry I implied you’re a douchebag,’ Barb replies with a grin. She takes the tray and looks over at the restaurant. ‘You know our boss isn’t here today and it’s pretty empty,’ Barb nods towards the window. ‘You could take an early lunch break.’

Billy smirks. ‘You’d cover for your best sort of friend.’

The beta flips him off, ‘Only if your quick.’

Not needing any further encouragement Billy leaves _Jolly Roger’s_ and quickly paces over to the ice cream parlour. The faces of the customers seem to match Steve’s exhaustion, the omega’s usually bursting tip jar is half empty.

Steve attempts to smile as he enters but the momentum from snapping his head towards the alpha translates excitement into pain. ‘I’ve never been so hungover in my life,’ the omega whines.

‘I’m not surprised considering how much you drank,’ Billy says. He wants to replay the sensation of stroking the boy’s soft hair from his eyes.

‘I didn’t say anything embarrassing, did I?’ Steve asks with a pessimistic tone. Sensing Billy’s gaze he tries to iron his shirt with only his hands. He’s trying to look more put together but the artificial lighting of the store just highlights the dark circles under his eyes.

The alpha attempts to supress a grin. ‘You said you had a dream about me.’

Steve wines, hiding his flushed face in his palms. Between Billy’s laughter he uncovers himself to scowl at the alpha, but his eyes can’t adjust to the light quick enough causing him to look just as forlorn as before. ‘Oh my god, I don’t remember saying that.’

Billy places both his hands on the counter as he leans closer. ‘Do you remember anything?’

The omega rubs his temples. Billy catches the spike of nervousness in his scent. ‘I remember drinking lots of tequila, vomiting… Nancy.’ Steve catches his gaze, ‘I remember you punching Tommy in the face.’

Billy attempts to pull his hands away to hide his grazed knuckles, but the omega holds them closer, examining the morbid rainbow of bruises on his hand.

‘Does it hurt?’ Steve asks in an even tone, fingers tracing the marked skin.

The alpha swallows. ‘No,’ but the sharp inhale through his teeth betrays his words as Steve increases his pressure.

He’s suddenly very aware of the omegas comforting touch, the way Steve cautiously holds him while ghosting soothing patterns across his hands. Billy’s too scared to move in fear the omega will pull away, so the two stand there with hands intertwined, senses full of one another.

Carefully Steve drops one of his hands down on the counter in order to press a freezing cold ice cream scoop onto his bruised knuckles.

Billy retreats on instinct. ‘I said I’m lactose intolerant,’ he hisses as drops of vanilla ice cream melt down his fingers.

The dull throbbing in his knuckles disappears.

Steve grabs his hand and presses the ice cream scoop back down. ‘Then don’t lick it, idiot.’

Oblivious to the emerging line the two stare at each other, Steve cleaning up the ice cream with a pale finger before slowly bringing it to his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The support you guys have given me has absolutely floored me. Every single kudo, bookmark and comment brightens my day! Thank you so much for reading <3


	3. Sink or Swim

There’s a fleeting feeling in the summer air as Billy watches groups of children leave the arcade, footsteps desperately slow as they attempt to grasp onto the fading days of the summer holiday. The sun is setting and the alpha has a sudden urge to shiver as he exhales cigarette smoke from his car. A soft-rock song plays out of his open window like the movie montages of summer serenity that is interrupted by the slamming of the arcade doors.

Max is clutching a small soft toy tightly as she marches outside, face flush with an untraceable emotion. A young alpha boy with dark skin catches up to her and touches her shoulder. The redhead slaps his hand away.

With her back turned Billy can’t decipher her words through the muffled shouting, the argument between the two all hand gestures and stomping feet. The alpha boy lowers his pitch and bears his teeth as Max throws the soft toy at his feet.

Billy throws his cigarette out the window.

Max stomps towards the car leaving the boy alone, tears streaming down her face as she crawls into the passenger seat.

Her sobs sound like hiccups.

The smell of despair is quarrelled by the flare of anger in Billy’s scent. ‘Why are you crying?’ he asks. The alpha attempted to sound concerned but the words come out like an accusation.

With a tensed fist the omega attempts to wipe away her tears. ‘I’m _not_ crying.’

Billy catches her trembling fist in a tight grasp. ‘Don’t bullshit me, Max.’ He leans over the gearstick, wrestling her arm away from her red face as he forces his gaze on her. ‘What did he say to you?’

The omega’s eyes swell with fresh tears. She smells like prey.

Billy looks to his fist coiled around her small pale arm. The scab on his knuckles tears as he lets go suddenly. An apology gets caught in the shame of his throat.

Max smells his fear and dries her eyes. ‘We were just fighting,’ she ensures, ‘it was stupid.’

‘You were _fighting?’_ The alpha snaps.

‘Just saying stuff, nothing else.’ She looks out the window to the parking lot where the boy is standing, holding the stuffed toy to his chest as he shakes his head. Max looks back to Billy. ‘I was being an idiot. I thought he didn’t want to spend time with me anymore.’

Relaxed by the omega’s sincere tone, Billy turns the keys in the ignition and drives out of the parking lot. The relaxing song still hums through the radio, clean air numbing the familiar throbbing of his knuckles.

He looks out of the rear-view mirror at the fading neon sign of the arcade. The alpha’s fingers twitch, foot adding pressure onto the accelerator as the tarmac starts passing quicker. There’s an instinct that Billy can’t place, just a hollow feeling in his chest as he replays the image of Max’s tear-filled eyes. The car’s engine starts groaning as he changes gear, not slowing into the corner just accelerating away from a threat Billy doesn’t dare name.

Max’s scent turns alert. She tugs against her seatbelt to smack her hands on the console. ‘Billy slow down!’ she screams.

The outside world starts to blur around them.

‘Billy, stop!’ she places her hand into his palm as he reaches for the gear stick to change to a higher gear. ‘Stop the car, now!’

As if suddenly roused from sleep, the alpha slams on the emergency break. Their bodies thrust forward as the sound of screeching tires replaces the radio. Billy blinks against the outstretched road. He leans back into his seat.

Max looks on the verge of tears once more. ‘I think you hit something,’ she tells the silence. When Billy doesn’t respond she rushes out of the car, door swaying in the summer breeze as she looks glumly at the tarmac.

Billy watches her lower lip quiver. After a few beats of silence, he follows nervously.

Underneath the car a small possum lies dead, burrowed under his front wheel, eyes unblinking. The scent of death is sickly sweet in the air. The blood looks warm as it puddles at their feet.

The alpha doesn’t move his gaze from the animal as he says, ‘You’d tell me if he hurt you, wouldn’t you?’

Another car drives past them. Max exhales. ‘Lucas would never hurt me.’

Billy takes a rehearsed step towards her. She’s shivering slightly so he nestles against her side. Their two hands find each other in the empty space.

‘Promise me,’ he tells her urgently, ‘promise me you’ll tell me if anyone hurts you again.’

Max squeezes his hand. ‘I promise.’

After a while the two get back in the car and Billy drives on with wet wheels.

* * *

On the way to work the next morning Billy swerves to miss a turkey on the road, hands shaking on the steering wheel before he watches the bird fly away. The car behind beeps him angrily. Billy turns up to work fifteen minutes late and tries to wash the anxious scent from his neck in the _Jolly Roger’s_ kitchen sink.

He spends the rest of his shift half-dazed. After dropping yet another glass on the floor Barb walks over.

‘Are you okay?’ she asks, wincing as he cuts himself on a small piece of glass.

Billy suckles his bleeding finger. ‘I’m fine. Just… tired.’

The beta bites her lip to silence a challenge. She walks behind the bar to pull out a first aid kit, extracting the shard of glass and dressing the wound with a band-aid that has a picture of a sad octopus on it.

‘Thanks,’ the alpha mutters. He throws the remaining broken glass into the trash can. ‘Hopefully boss will mess up with the inventory again so I don’t have to pay for a new one.’

‘I’m still not over the time he accidentally ordered one hundred cans of clam chowder,’ Barb smiles, ‘I still have nightmares about the _Surprise School of Fish Stew._ Like what does that even mean?’

‘I know right, if you can’t come up with good fish puns then don’t open up a pirate themed restaurant.’

The beta hands him another glass. ‘I say we call for a mutiny. With my brains and your brawn, we could easily overthrow him.’

‘Then I could rule this sinking ship!’ Billy sarcastically cheers.

‘I think you mean I will. I was born to be captain, you’re not cut throat enough.’

Her words make Billy smile.

Barb throws him mock menacing glares for the rest of their shift as she stomps around the tables of dissatisfied customers complaining of over salted food. Finally, the waitress manages to banish all the customers, bowing as she opens up the restaurant door and throws him the key.

‘As your captain I demand you mop the floor and lock up,’ she smirks, ‘And no dilly dallying.’

The beta disappears with a middle finger so Billy curses at silence. Begrudgingly he mops the restaurant floor, only half-following the health and safety regulations as he lazily pushes the grime around the floor. Satisfied with his half-assed job, the alpha exits the store.

While locking up, the band-aid on his finger causes the key slip from his hands. As he bends down to pick it up he hears a familiar voice behind him.

‘Thanks for the offer but I really should be heading home,’ Steve says in a nervous tone.

Billy turns around to see the omega flush against the wall beside _Scoops Ahoy,_ his boss leaning over him. The older alpha licks his lips when Steve tries to turn away.

‘Come on let’s go grab a drink. I need to reward you for working so hard today.’ The words sound casual but the man’s smirk is hungry, like a predator trying to talk its prey down from a tree.

The omega doesn’t meet the man’s stare. ‘It’s pretty late so-’

‘So? You got work early or something?’

Steve pretends to laugh, hands stretched out behind him as if to ground himself. ‘Yeah, my boss doesn’t like it when I’m late.’ His tone is synthetically sweet. Billy swallows at the memory of the omega in the same position, Billy leaning over his small frame trying to persuade him to like him back.

Billy feels nauseous.

‘Maybe if you ask your boss nicely he might let you off,’ the man leers.

The strange alpha leans even closer, pressing his nose into the length of Steve’s neck. With his boss’s head bowed nothing blocks the vision of the omega’s terrified eyes. Even from afar Billy’s nose wrinkles at the terrified scent, instincts bubbling in his chest as he marches towards the scene.

Steve suddenly catches his gaze, scent spiking with relief.

‘Hey Steve, you still up for that ride home?’ Billy asks tensely. He’s trying to even his tone but his hands are clenched painfully tight. The instinct to punish and destroy is concentrated by the omega’s smile.

‘Billy! Yeah thanks that would be great.’ He slips under his boss’s arm and slowly backs away. ‘I’ll just go get my hoodie.’

The omega quickens his pace over to the counter to search for the article of clothing, pale legs lightly kicking the air as his shorts ride up his thighs. Both of them turn towards the sight before Billy angrily drops his gaze to the other alpha, tensing his fist as the man licks his lips.

‘Don’t worry Stevie, I could drop you off afterwards,’ the man insists. ‘We can go get a few drinks, talk, then I’ll take you home.’ The opposing alpha surveys Billy up and down with an amused expression. ‘I live closer anyway, you know, in the _nice_ part of town.’

A growl escapes Billy’s lips. He steps closer to challenge the alpha, feet planted and ready to attack. The familiar pain of his knuckles is soothed by Steve’s sudden cold hand in his. The omega tugs his arm away, anchoring the alpha in his fury.

‘See you tomorrow!’ Steve calls over his shoulder as he leads Billy away from the threat.

Behind them, the boy’s boss trains his gaze on the omega’s thighs so Billy pushes Steve behind him. He walks backwards to shield the view of the brunette before a blast of cold air surrounds him. The doors of the mall close between them but Billy can still see the alpha glaring at him from the other side of the glass. Billy stands in stalemate. The adrenaline flowing through his veins is halted only by a familiar scent in the breeze.

In the parking lot under the faint warmth of the streetlights, Steve sits on the hood of Billy’s Camaro and lights up a cigarette. A cloud of smoke obscures the vision of the omega as he tugs at the hemline of his shorts.

Cautiously, Billy approaches the boy, attempting to swallow the emotion in his voice. He fascinates himself with the way Steve’s legs dangle across his license plate. ‘Is there anyone you can report him to?’

Steve exhales lazily into the night. ‘It’s fine.’

‘It’s not fine!’ Billy snaps suddenly.

_‘I_ am fine,’ he replies in monotone. ‘Look don’t worry about it. Things like this happen all the time.’ Steve’s words are deflective, yet he pulls his legs into the warmth of his body.

Billy starts to pace in front of him. ‘That doesn’t make it fine, Steve. None of this is fine.’

‘Why are you getting so worked up over this?’

_‘Because I wanted to hit him!’_ Billy exasperates.

Steve hugs his knees and sighs. The cigarette hangs precarious between his lips as he says, ‘Are you still talking about the party? Billy for the last time no one cares that you hit him.’

The alpha stops pacing and slams his hands on the hood of the car, Steve framed by his tensed arms. ‘ _I_ care that I hit him, that I didn’t even think about it!’ After a beat of silence he bows his head. ‘You looked so scared, so I kept hitting him and then everyone started looked at me like I scared them. Except no one hit me.’

Steve unravels himself, cold hands grasping at Billy’s jacket. ‘You were protecting me.’

‘From who?’

The omega’s fingers trace along his veins. Billy lets him make a map out of his body, turn his skin into territory as he pulls him closer.

‘I’ve met a lot of shitty alphas,’ Steve tells him, ‘I started my heat when I was thirteen, the first to present in my whole school. Ever since then I’ve had to deal with alphas grabbing me like I was this thing.’ He looks directly into Billy’s lost state. ‘I’ve met a lot of shitty alphas and you aren’t one of them.’

‘Then why do I still want to hit him?’ Billy asks desperately, pointing to the mall. The store lights begin to fade into the night sky.

Steve holds the cigarette between Billy’s lips, smiling as the other boy inhales, breath ghosting between the spaces of his fingers. ‘I want to hit him too. Preferably with my car.’

The alpha pulls away with defiance on his lips, so Steve tugs him back and smiles wider.

‘I’m serious!’ he continues, ‘I have this reoccurring dream where I run him over with his own shitty car, and then I turn up to work like nothing happened.’

The cigarette between his fingers starts to burn out, fire too close to his skin. Billy confiscates it with one final drag before damming it to the tarmac.

Steve pulls out another cigarette from his hoodie that’s draped precariously on his shoulder. ‘But then I remember that I’d make a lot more money if someone was actually there to pay me.’

‘If this is about money-’

‘It’s not about the money,’ Steve interrupts with a sigh. ‘There’s not a lot of options in this shithole town. I either work a crappy customer service job, become a stripper, or get married.’ Steve laughs into his words. ‘You’ve seen me Billy, I’m not graceful enough to be a housewife or a stripper!’

The alpha groans in the echo of Steve’s chuckles. ‘Why are you laughing?’ he bites back, but there’s a smile in his voice. He tries to tighten his frown but the sight of the omega’s head thrown back and pale neck vibrating with laughter makes it impossible.

‘If I wasn’t laughing I’d be crying hysterically,’ the omega justifies.

Billy sits beside the omega, worried slightly at the way his car jolts under the new added weight. If he focussed hard enough he could still see the remnants of possum on his front tires.

Steve contemplates to the silence. ‘You know I used to be a total nobody.’ He bumps his shoulder against Billy’s as he lies back on the hood, his midriff exposed to the emerging night chill. ‘I wasn’t much of anything, not smart, not super social. I was never really anything to look twice at.’

An interjection threatens to leave Billy’s lips but instead he too lies back against the car, tuning in to the melody of Steve’s voice.

‘But then I started my heat and suddenly everything changed. People started sitting next to me at lunch to try and make me smile, alphas held doors open for me and let me copy their homework.’ Steve muses into the unlit cigarette. ‘I used to think it was a superpower.’

The sky above them is void of stars, the light pollution from the mall leaving a haze of empty purple space. After a while a plane passes above them, just slow enough to confuse itself with a shooting star.

Billy pulls out a lighter from his pocket and lets the omega lean into the flame.

‘I always secretly wanted to be an omega,’ Billy says offhandedly. ‘My mom was one and I was obsessed with the way she could make people feel just by walking in a room, the smell on her neck when she held me and…’ His words start to tighten on instinct, so he swallows. ‘When I was a kid I used to pray that I’d end up just like her.’

Beside him the omega turns over to watch him. For a moment the alpha fears he’ll interrogate him to paint the picture more clearly. But Steve just smiles genuinely.

‘I bet she loved that,’ he tells Billy simply.

The alpha smiles back. ‘She did.’

Steve pushes himself up into a sitting position, elbows holding his weight as he tries to flatten his hair with a shake. The smell of his shampoo makes Billy feel clean again.

‘My dad always wanted me to be an alpha,’ Steve remarks, eyes focusing on the space between Billy and the stars. ‘He wanted me to do all the stuff alphas do like take over the family business and carry on the _great_ Harrington name.’

Billy snorts. ‘Maybe we should swap likes like in _The Parent Trap.’_

The omega’s laugh comes straight from the pit of his stomach, small puffs of smoke punctuating each cackle. ‘That would be amazing. Although part of me doubts that people will believe us.’

‘I think I would look great in a sailor costume. I’d give us two weeks before people got suspicious.’

Steve grins down at him. ‘I’d love to see that. If I was you I’d punch Tommy in the face again.’

The humour in the air vanishes.

‘Sorry,’ the omega winces.

Billy sits up. ‘Don’t be.’

The difference between heartfelt humour and uncomfortable silence becomes too much for Steve to bear. His eyes are searching for the moon but it’s too well hidden behind the silhouette of the mall. The rest of the cars in the parking lot seem to have vanished all at once.

From the missing moon to Billy’s trying scent, he says to no one in particular, ‘Me and Tommy used to be friends once.’

The alpha lets the pause happen as Steve take another drag of the cigarette.

‘After I presented people started pressuring me to do things,’ Steve confides, ‘after I started dating Nancy everyone stopped touching me. But when we broke up suddenly the touches were back, but this time they were lower, more persistent.’

Billy plays with the scuffs on his knees, listening intently as the omega unravelled himself.

‘Tommy started following me home to make sure I got there safe and would sit right next to me at lunch in case someone got too close. He asked me to prom and everything, but I knew Nancy would be there so I blew him off.’ The omega pulls his legs to his chest once more. ‘Then he just started screaming at me, claiming I was leading him on and that he should get some kind of _reward_ for putting up with me.’

Another plane passes ahead, too quickly this time.

Steve tries to even his tone but his nervousness seeps through. ‘He told the whole school that I fucked him in the back of his car and for the whole final year of high school everyone started calling me Steve the Blowjob Machine. It’s Hawkins legend now, I think there’s still graffiti about me in the mall toilets: _Steve Harrington blew the entire basketball team, Find Steve Harrington for a good time!’_ He laughs hollowly. ‘Bet my boss read it and thought it was worth a shot.’

‘I take it back,’ Billy says.

Steve turns to him with a look of horror. ‘What?’

‘What I said, I’m glad I hit the asshole.’

The boy relaxes and lets himself stretch back over the hood, legs just short enough to grace the tarmac with his untied shoelace.

Steve stares back at him from over his shoulder. ‘Thanks though, for stepping in with Tommy and my boss. It… it really means a lot.’

For a moment Billy is convinced the world stops when the omega looks at him, every layer of emotion ready to be peeled from behind his too brown eyes.

Then Steve’s tone turns sweet, too sweet like a swollen wound. ‘Guess I owe you big time now,’ the omega flirts as he jumps up from the car and leans towards him, hitching his breath in preparation for Billy to kiss him or touch him, or do anything but stare at him blankly.

Billy slides off the car and puts his hands in his pockets. ‘You don’t own me anything.’

The omega’s smile drops, foot crushing the cigarette under his shoe.

Billy gets down on one knee to retie Steve’s shoelace. ‘Look I’m not going to push it, but I can drive you home,’ he says as straightens, the omega’s eyes following his every movement. ‘Seriously it’s no trouble and it’s pretty dark now.’

‘I can get the bus, really it’s no problem.’ He takes two steps back but his scent is enticing, palms outstretched. ‘I’m already being super annoying by holding you up.’

Billy unlocks his car and opens up the passenger door, eyes trained on Steve as he bites his lip. ‘You’re always annoying, Harrington. At least if I drive you home I can make sure you stay that way.’

‘Asshole,’ Steve scoffs as he slides into the passenger seat and buckles himself in.

* * *

The two of them quickly fall into a routine without either of them saying anything. Billy just turns up at Steve’s house the next morning and the omega climbs in his car, causally fiddling through the radio with a box of cereal in his hands that would spill everywhere as he animatedly critiqued his music tastes. Despite his drastically earlier wake up time, knowing the omega was waiting for him helped drag him out of bed in the morning. He only starts to regret the decision after a week where he realises juts how long it takes the omega to get ready in the morning.

Today Steve had texted that he was ready and turned up forty minutes later with his shorts on back to front and a fruit loop in his hair. His apology was an untoasted Pop-Tart that he threw at the alpha, changing the station and humming along to the shitty pop song that blasted from the radio.

The same pop song was now being belted out through the restaurant as a bachelorette party stumbled through the doors of _Jolly Roger’s_ , demanding pitchers of fruity cocktails despite the fact they were already clearly intoxicated.

Billy was running out of tequila and patience.

Barb leans against the bar and crosses her arms. ‘Our shift ends in ten minutes. Do you think they’ll get bored by then?’

They watch the drunken bride-to-be stick her hand in the lobster tank and coo at the sleeping creatures. A second later a pained cry leaves her lips, makeshift veil covering her face as she downs another shot with her uninjured hand.

Billy sighs. ‘Nope. And we don’t get paid overtime.’

‘Maybe if one of them dies of alcohol poisoning or gets eaten by a lobster we could go home.’

‘Or you could stab me with your plastic sword,’ Billy says as he bangs his head on the bar, ‘even death would be less painful than this.’

Barb winces as the bride reaches for the lobster tank again. ‘Like I’d let you leave me here alone. Besides I deserve to go home early, you already abandoned me for your ridiculously long lunch break.’

Suddenly the party’s _Don’t Be Shellfish Sharing Platter_ crashes to the floor sending calamari and mozzarella stick flying through the air. Barb makes an exhausted groan and leaves to clean up the mess.

The alpha attempts to busy himself with organising the empty liquor bottles as he waits for the party to leave. He starts humming the same tune again, tapping the glasses to create a half-completed melody. A part of him wants to look across the mall to see if Steve was somehow singing along, mumbling the lyrics under his breath as he waited for Billy to drive him home.

Destiny interrupts the hummed chorus as a sailor clad Steve suddenly runs into the store. The alpha half expects a laugh track to start playing through the speaker system as in perfect sitcom fashion the brunette omega jumps on a barstool and grins at him.

Steve’s eyes are scarily wide with excitement. ‘I have a special present for you!’

The alpha blinks rabidly, checking he hadn’t somehow fallen asleep waiting for the bachelorette party to leave. He shakes his head, but Steve’s expression doesn’t waver.

Behind the omega there’s another crash. Barb curses audibly and furiously grabs a broom, pausing slightly as if debating whether to use it for its intended purpose or a deadly weapon.

Billy flickers his gaze between the drunken scene and the animated omega at the bar. ‘W-What are doing here?’ The alpha asks.

As if suddenly remembering his dramatic entrance Steve’s smile returns. He fiddles with his back pocket and conceals something shiny in his hands. ‘Okay, so earlier this guy in a suit came to Scoops Ahoy and started chatting Robin up which was hilariously awful. After failing _miserably_ , he skulked away mumbling about numbers… but he left something important behind.’

The omega’s closed hands twitch excitingly, like something alive was trying to escape from his grasp.

Billy looks nervously around the restaurant, but everyone was occupied either making a mess or cleaning one up. ‘Is it weed?’

Steve rolls his eyes. ‘No, this is ground-breaking.’ He extends his arms across the bar. ‘Prepare yourself.’

The glorified object is pressed into Billy’s skin. He revels in the sensation of Steve’s hands on his before he pulls away, fleeing fingers unmasking the object of Steve’s excitement.

Billy’s exhilaration is replaced by disappointment. ‘A key?’

‘No, a _special_ key!’ Steve corrects, large smile making up for Billy’s deadpan expression.

‘For what?’

The omega rolls his eyes and takes the key back, holding it up to the light to make it look like a holy relic. ‘Somewhere in the mall.’

‘Wow you shouldn’t have!’ Billy barks sarcastically, ‘I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to lock up a store.’

Steve pouts and sits down defeated on his bar stool. ‘You don’t get it. Me and Robin used it earlier and found-’ he cuts himself off and jumps to the floor. ‘Just follow me.’

The bachelorette party starts singing again, tumbling over the tables as they start collecting their various costume pieces. One bridesmaid tries pulling the parrot off Barb’s shoulder. The beta sends Billy a desperate look.

‘I can’t, I’m still working,’ Billy says reluctantly.

Steve climbs onto the bar with a wicked smirk. ‘Come on you’re a pirate, live a little.’

Needing no more convincing the alpha jumps over the bar and throws his hat on the floor. ‘Uh you’ve got it from here, right?’ He shouts to Barb. The beta opens her mouth to scold him so Billy quickens his pace and leaves the store, Steve laughing in tow.

The omega takes him by the hand and leads him across the plaza. ‘You’re going to lose your mind when you see this.’

‘Last time you promised something exciting it was a shitty key,’ Billy opposes.

Steve jerks him forward before dropping his hand, stealthily unlocking the plain white door tucked away in the corner of the food court. ‘It’s not just a key,’ the omega says as the door slowly swings open, ‘it’s a lifestyle, an invitation to the elusive sneak club.’

Behind the new door is a small room full of blinking lights and monitors that project every corner of the mall. There’s an old uncomfortable looking desk chair facing the control panel, a walkie talkie and warm cup of coffee sitting dangerously close to the monitors. On one of the screens Billy can see the bachelorette party stumbling out of _Jolly Roger’s_ towards the parking lot. A security guard is pacing the upper floors and while no sound plays, he looks like he’s whistling.

The omega turns towards him with a scandalised expression. He picks up a baton that is balanced against the doorframe and points it at Billy. ‘It’s like some secret kinky sex dungeon!’

Billy pushes the baton away with a deadpan look. ‘It’s a surveillance room, dipshit’

‘Surveying what though?’

‘Shoplifters, vandalism, key-stealing omegas, the list goes on,’ Billy replies. He looks back over to the monitor where Barb starts locking up the store, most definitely cursing his name. ‘We should leave before the security guy comes back.’

Steve throws himself on the spinny chair, bouncing against the back wall until he’s facing Billy’s hand reaching for the door. ‘Come on pirate, where’s your sense of adventure?’

The sight of the omega looking up at him with wide doe eyes makes the alpha swallow audibly.

The omega beckons him inside, wheels squeaking against the concrete floor. ‘Are you a chicken or an alpha?’

Billy crosses his arms. ‘You really think baiting me is going to work, what am I six years old?’

‘Yes,’ Steve taunts with a smirk, ‘you smell like chicken, like a Kentucky Fried Little Bitch.’

In reply Billy grabs the back of the omega’s chair and spins him around with all his strength, Steve giggling like a child on a roundabout as the chair smacks into the filing cabinet.

Billy sits on the desk fiddling with the walkie talkie as Steve’s spins slow. ‘You know someone once said my scent reminded them of a dog,’ Billy remarks offhandedly. ‘I mean I like dogs but it’s hard to take that as a compliment.’

‘You don’t smell like a dog!’ Steve exclaims loudly, words bouncing from wall to wall. The omega gets out of the chair and walks over to him, stumbling slightly as he tries to reset his centre of gravity. He leans closer to smell Billy’s shirt. ‘You smell like camping trips with my family.’

Billy raises an eyebrow at the omega’s comment. ‘What like shitting in the woods and arguing about directions?’

‘No! It’s like a breath of fresh air.’ He punctuates the statement my taking another deep inhale of his probably very sweaty clothes. ‘You smell like pine trees and campfire smoke. Like it’s warm but far from home… like alert survival instincts but also comforting.’ He leans back with a satisfied smile. ‘You smell like a camping trip where you win a fight with a bear and then have smores, does that make sense?’

‘Not really,’ Billy admits, the corners of his mouth tugging into a smile. ‘You smell like muffin cases.’

Steve looks genuinely horrified, backside falling onto the desk chair that somehow managed to skid close enough to catch his fall. ‘What the fuck! I give you this big emotional speech and you tell me I smell like a muffin!’

‘Not a muffin,’ the alpha attempts to justify, ‘more like when you open a muffin up. It’s sweet and warm.’ He’s moving his hands too much as he speaks. Steve looks unimpressed, so he tries again. ‘It’s like… when you bake cookies, it’s not necessarily the smell of the cookies but the feeling you get when you hold them.’

‘I think you’re just hungry,’ Steve replies scooting his chair away.

Billy stops the wheels with his foot. ‘You smell like lazy Sunday mornings, the best ones where you just lie in bed and take it all in. It’s relaxing and easy, all breakfast in bed and no stress. Just muffin cases.’

A genuine wave of gratification washes over Steve’s face before he shakes it away. ‘Did you practise that in the mirror this morning?’

‘Fuck you! You’re just mad because mine sounded better,’ Billy rivals.

‘Mine was so much better! It was layered, it had symbolism, a narrative arc!’

‘Screw your narrative arc, mine came straight from the heart and your just jealous.’

The omega smiles up at him, eyelashes casting shadows across his slightly flushed cheeks. ‘Maybe I’m a little jealous. And hungry, you definitely made me hungry.’

Billy looks back over to the monitor. The mall looks eerily empty save for the one security guard that unenthusiastically paces the plaza. He checks the time stamp on the monitor and his stomach grumbles in reply. ‘We could go and get food. I’m kind of craving dessert now. I think they opened up this cupcake place on the way home, Max says it’s great.’

‘Can you even eat cupcakes?’ Steve wonders as he joins in watching the monitors.

‘What because of my god like figure?’

‘No,’ the omega groans, ‘because of your lactose intolerance. Cupcakes have buttercream, buttercream is basically butter, and butter is all dairy.’

‘I’d probably get a stomach ache but it’s only like pure forms of lactose where I shit myself.’

Steve points the desk lamp in his face like he’s trying to interrogate him. ‘You’re so full of shit Billy Hargrove, sitting there talking about _pure_ forms of dairy.’ The omega narrows his eyes dramatically. ‘Just admit you don’t like my ice cream.’

Billy shields his eyes from the bright light. ‘You’re right, I actually live on a dairy farm and my best friend is a cow,’ he barks sarcastically, ‘I befriended you as part of my elaborate conspiracy against _Scoops Ahoy.’_

‘I knew it!’ The omega cries, smile reaching his eyes. Billy’s so enamoured with the beautiful sight of his brown eyes that he doesn’t notice when Steve picks up the walkie talkie. ‘Security!’ The omega calls into the device and the guard on the monitor looks worriedly around the empty mall. ‘This is first mate Sailor Steve calling for backup, I’ve got eyes on a pirate-’

The alpha manages to wrestle the walkie talkie from his hands, giving the boy a look that’s both humoured and horrified. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

‘I’m calling for help,’ Steve says as he blinks his ridiculously long eyelashes, ‘I’m a damsel in distress, haven’t you been paying attention?’

A muffled _‘uh… who is this?’_ sounds from the receiver so Billy turns it off.

‘The security guard is probably heading this way,’ the alpha cries. The man on the monitor looks nervously around a corner. ‘Rule one of sneak club is don’t talk about sneak club.’

Steve turns his smirk to the control panel, pressing random buttons as the screens flicker with footage from later that day. Right now, it shows a girl slipping a bottle of perfume in her bag. She checks left to right waiting to be accosted before freely walking out of the store. Billy and Steve gasp.

‘Is that Robin?’ The alpha asks.

They rewind the footage to watch Robin wink at the camera, concealing the lump in her bag as she prances out of frame.

Billy swallows. ‘We should go.’

‘Why? Are you trying to hide something?’ Steve prods, hands dancing across the control panel.

Billy watches his day happen in reverse. The screens flicker through a montage of yawning employees, a small fist fight resulting in someone falling into the fountain, and Steve slipping the skeleton key into his waistband. Silently they entertain themselves with the rewind until Billy appears running back to the store.

The omega turns to him with a smirk. ‘I’ve got eyes on the target, he’s looking excited to return back to work, very out of character.’

With an eager press Steve slows the rewind to track his movements. The static fizzles as onscreen Billy exits the hardware store holding a bag.

‘Ah! The suspected criminal is holding a _suspicious_ package,’ Steve commentates.

‘Kind of sounds like you’re talking about my dick,’ Billy jokes and the omega slaps him on the shoulder.

The monitor continues to replay the same scene, the alpha on screen walking to the bathroom on the second floor. ‘It looks like the suspect has gone to relieve himself.’ Steve’s smile flickers when the alpha sticks an out of order sign on the bathroom door. ‘Very suspicious…’

Billy tries to swallow the lump in his throat. He leans over to try and fast forward to another scene, but the omega slaps his hands away, completely enthralled by the performance on screen.

After a moment of silence Steve taps another button. ‘Jesus, this is five times speed how long does it take you to shit!’ he cries mimicking a moment of enlightenment as snaps his fingers. ‘Oh, did you have some of the purest dairy around?’

When Billy doesn’t smile back he presses the fast-forward button, the screen showing onlookers shrugging at the out of order sign and a security guard who crosses his arms outside the door.

Steve squints at the time stamp on the video. ‘Seriously you’ve been in there fifteen minutes, are you okay?’

To answer his question onscreen Billy exits the bathroom without the bag and subtlety slips money into the palm of the security guard, eyes awaiting challenge as he slowly jogs from the bathroom.

Real life Billy turns the monitor off.

‘Are you a drug dealer?’ Steve asks with genuine concern.

‘No!’

He goes to stand up, but Steve grabs his arm. ‘Then what were you doing in the bathroom?’

Billy pulls his arm back harshly, stumbling at the jolt. ‘Nothing. Just drop it.’

The omega grasps the empty air. He swivels on his chair away from the monitor and pointedly straightens his hat. Without the monitors off the room is almost completely pitch black, the small flickering recording lights casting Steve’s face in a faint red glow.

Billy steps closer to apologise but before he can open his mouth Steve’s face splits into a grin as he runs from the room. It takes a moment of contemplation before the alpha realises where the boy was heading, scrambling in the dark room to follow the sound of his footsteps.

Steve has the advantage of a head start as he opens up the once hidden door and runs up the non-powered escalator. The alpha prides himself on his speed and almost catches up to the omega before he bumps into the security guard.

The omega’s small frame rushes across the plaza. Billy winces at the security guard’s unimpressed stare.

‘What are you doing here?’ The man asks.

The absurdity of the situation isn’t lost on Billy as he tries to catch his breath by fanning himself with his pirate coat. ‘Uh…’ he strokes his neck nervously, ‘I work here?’

Up ahead, Steve reaches the bathroom and ducks inside.

‘Uh duty calls!’ Billy cries as he sidesteps the helpless security guard and follows the omega through the door.

He half fears the wrath of Steve upon entering, imagens the boy’s smile full of questions as he throws accusations wildly into the air. But instead he’s greeted with the sight of the omega staring wordlessly at the bathroom wall.

Steve scent is hard to translate through the synthetic smell of paint to fills the bathroom.

With a shaking hand Steve presses his palm against the wall, mouth agape when his hand comes away wet. The handprint on the wall reveals the hidden word “slut” that harshly contrasts the pristine cream of the freshly painted wall.

Billy stutters trying to explain himself. ‘Steve, I’m sorry I didn’t want-’

But his words get cut off when Steve presses his lips firmly against his. Billy can barely register the sensation, mouth and eyes helplessly open as he watches the omega lean into the kiss. When his back hits the wall his body finally responds, eyes fluttering closed as he tangles his hand in the omega’s hair and moans into his mouth. The smell of paint underlines the romance of their bodies flush against one another as the hand on Billy’s cheek smears paint desperately across his skin.

After a short eternity the omega pulls away, licking the taste of Billy off his lips as he traces the white hand print on his cheek. For a moment Steve’s mouth mimes something but before the sound can reach his tongue he kisses the alpha again with swollen lips.

Billy thinks of the omega’s lips when he crawls into bed that night, the aftertaste of adrenaline warming his tongue, fingers raw from scrubbing the paint from his uniform.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I am drowning in your love and kind words. All of your support sends a gust of wind into my little writer sails forcing me to actually write something down. Every kudo, comment and bookmark makes me feel all floaty inside <3
> 
> Okay I need to stop making sea-based puns now because it’s actually taking over my life. I have a bookmark of sailor phrases on my computer, I listen to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack before bed. I genuinely think I've lost my mind.
> 
> Next chapter coming soon where Billy finds himself in pretty deep water…
> 
> ...I'll see myself out.


	4. Rising Tides

Instead of breakfast, Billy fills himself with a nervous anticipation as he pulls up to the omega’s house. His morning had been a montage of moments interluded only by the memory of Steve’s lips against his. The sensation seemed to replay every time he inhaled the scent of paint that still lingered on his uniform. Outside the gate, Billy tries to scrub at one of the stains but the mark just grows, small cloud-like blemishes dotting along the fabric. With a sigh he tries to fix himself in the rear-view mirror.

He meets his reflections eyes and practices his infamously flirtatious smirk.

‘Hey Steve,’ he rehearses, ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about- _no,_ that’s way too desperate.’ Billy coughs and lowers his voice, winking at the mirror. ‘Oh, hey Steve, didn’t expect to see you here- _no!_ This is his house.’

A woman walking her dog watches Billy talk to himself in the car. Predicting some sort of mental breakdown, she turns her walk into a jog.

The alpha is oblivious to everything but his own nerves. He pretends to sneak up on his own reflection. ‘Oh, hi princess. I’m here to give you a ride.’ He nods approvingly. ‘Yeah that works it’s breezy but… interested.’

After his monologue he types in the code for the gate and drives up the hill. Giving himself a final once over in the mirror he pops a mint in his mouth “just in case.” The alpha struts confidently to the door and leans against the doorframe seductively.

He knocks on the wood and licks his lips, preparing to perform his well-rehearsed charm that turns into a silent gasp as the front door opens.

A middle-aged man in a suit stands in the doorway looking at Billy like he’s some sort of escaped convict. There’s an air of familiarity about the man that’s slightly disturbing. His hair is Steve’s shade of brown but cut professionally short, flecks of grey emerging despite his obvious attempt to hide it. His eyes are foreignly cold though.

He looks Billy up and down with his unwelcoming gaze. ‘Who are you?’

Billy drops his bravado at the sound of the alpha’s territorial voice. ‘Uh, I’m here to pick up Steve.’

‘How did you get past the gate?’

Before Billy can stutter out another flustered answer a voice calls out from behind the opposing alpha.

‘Billy!’ Steve exclaims.

The man opens the door wider in surprise, revealing the sight of the omega walking down the stairs with a worried look on his face. His sailor costume is unironed and he looks like he’d snoozed through every alarm.

Both alphas turn towards him with a look of shock. The older man lets go of the door and steps towards Steve as he reaches the bottom of the stairs. Billy quickly puts his foot in the way of the closing door so he can watch the two scowl at each other.

‘What on earth are you wearing?!’ The alpha scolds.

Steve rolls his eyes. ‘It’s my uniform.’

‘Well go upstairs and get changed! You look… _uncouth.’_ He gestures to Steve’s bare thighs.

The omega sheepishly attempts to pull his shorts further down, even his knees flushing pink as he shuffles awkwardly. ‘It’s company policy, dad.’

‘Sure, if you work at a strip club,’ the alpha jades. ‘You told me you got a proper job, that is not what you wear to a proper job. No son of mine is going to prance around in a silly costume with random alphas.’

Steve surveys his father’s three-piece suit with a scoff. ‘Well I guess I’m not your proper son then.’ He turns towards the door, towards Billy, but the man grabs his arm.

‘Don’t walk away when I’m talking to you!’

‘You’re not talking to me, you’re talking at me!’ The omega pulls his arm away and straightens his sailor hat. ‘I’m going to be late and you’re making Billy uncomfortable.’

At the mention of his name Billy shifts nervously. The grand front entrance and shiny marble floors look ironically tacky from his position in the doorway. He can’t quite bring himself to step inside, both literally and figuratively between two binary forces.

In the heat of the argument a cheerful sounding ringtone fills the space between them. Steve’s father picks up the phone and begins talking hurriedly to the person on the other end.

The omega deflates with a sigh and walks towards Billy. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t worry about it, you don’t have to apologise for your dad.’ Billy mediates.

‘Not about my dad.’ Steve flushes. ‘I wanted to text you, after last night. I didn’t want you to feel like I-’

_‘What happened last night?!’_ His father interrupts, hand over the receiver of his phone but the voice on the other end still audibly drones on.

The two of them fluster slightly before Steve compressed their nervous energy with a simple explanation. ‘Billy drove me home last night.’

‘Why isn’t Nancy driving you home?’ He probes further, dismissing Billy once more.

Steve laughs humourlessly, tone dry with sarcasm. ‘Well considering we broke up a year and a half ago, I’m going to go with scheduling issues.’

‘Don’t use that tone on me, young man.’ He snatches the house key from Steve’s pocket. ‘I have half the mind to ring up the-’

‘I’m going to be late!’ Steve snaps. ‘Now is not a good time for a lecture.’

His father angrily points to the omega with the hand still clutching his house key, the other gripping the talking phone with a painful looking pressure. ‘I’m heading back to Paris at lunch so now is a good time.’

Steve’s rage surpasses his frustrations, tone no longer levelling in attempt to diffuse the conversation. He turns around and matches his father’s stoic posture. ‘No, now is a good time for you. If you actually cared you’d visit more, or call, or I don’t know at least acknowledge my birthday.’

The older man steps back slightly, as if physically wounded by the words. ‘Steve, I’m sorry.’ He slumps his shoulder, looking unusual in the tight confines of his designer suit. ‘The time difference in Europe means me and your mother lose track of things.’

‘That’s bullshit! Your whole job is about communicating between the American and European branches. You know exactly what the time difference is down to the exact minute.’

Steve’s eyes well with tears but he quickly blinks them away. Billy wants to lean over and take him by the trembling hand before realising he’d probably only make the situation worse. Instead he watches dumbly as the omega glares at the older man.

His father opens his mouth, but no words prevail so Steve snatches back the house key.

‘You didn’t forget the time difference and you know the code to the gate so you obviously didn’t forget the date.’ The omega’s tone becomes dangerously quiet. ‘You just forgot about me.’

Steve gives his father a pitying look before opening the door fully. The blonde alpha is suddenly basked in the light from the grand house that falters in Steve’s shadow as he waltzes over to the car and climbs into the passenger seat without another word.

Finally, Billy moves his foot away to let the door close, leaving the other alpha alone on the other side. He joins the omega in the tense silence of his car and turns the radio on in an attempt to lighten the mood. But instead of music an advert for dishwasher salt sounds through the speakers. The light-hearted jingle just makes things worse.

‘I’m sorry.’ Steve says, head hung in shame.

Billy turns the radio down, the adverts sounding like whispers as he places his hand on Steve’s. ‘Like I said, you don’t have to apologise about asshole dads. I get it.’

The omega smiles. ‘He is an asshole.’ As Billy turns the keys in the ignition he tries to flatten his bed head under his sailor hat. He turns to the alpha with a frown. ‘Do you think I look okay?’

Not missing a beat Billy replies, ‘you look beautiful.’

Steve’s face turns a brilliant shade of pink. ‘I’m really sorry you had to see that. He didn’t tell me he was coming otherwise I would have…’ his voice trails off, coming back stronger and more composed as he continues. ‘How about I buy you lunch to make it up to you? Then we can talk about yesterday.’

The space between them, while there, feels almost electric. Billy puts on his infamously flirtatious smirk and starts driving. ‘I’d like that, princess. I’d like that a lot.’

* * *

Even as the number of customers dwindled, most likely due to the _Shiver Me Tuna Casserole_ that’s foul odour and greyish appearance almost guaranteed food poisoning, Billy’s boss was reluctant to let him leave. He stated his shift was a ten-minute lecture about punctuality in the pantry that led to Billy giving an unconvincing apology when the man handed him back his pirate hat. The alpha tried to muster an enthusiastic smile every time his boss appeared, but it was hard to act like the job was anything more than a pay check and a thinly veiled excuse to ogle at Steve all day.

After forcing Billy to do a full inventory of the bar and clean the fly traps in the kitchen, his boss finally let him take his lunch break. The alpha half runs from the restaurant, stopping only to make sure his boss was no longer glaring at him.

Robin smirks at him from behind the counter as he enters _Scoops Ahoy._ The seats looked surprisingly empty although Billy half suspected it was due to Robin’s unwelcoming demeanour that seemed almost offensive in comparison to Steve’s flirtatious smile. It was no secret the mall got busier when Steve was on duty.

‘Hey lover boy,’ she greets in her usual cynicism. ‘I’ve been hearing all about your smooth moves.’

Billy approaches the counter with a less than humble expression. ‘What about them?’

‘Something about a stolen key, breaking and entering and too much tongue.’

‘He definitely didn’t say that!’

The omega gives him a wicked grin. ‘Stevie actually didn’t tell me anything but now I know you kissed him.’

‘He kissed me,’ Billy corrects.

‘Whatever, asshole.’ She twirls the ice cream scoop in her hand. There’s a half-melted cup of chocolate ice cream in front of her and a small stain on her top lip. Billy may have no work ethic, but at least he was better than Robin.

‘I’m just here to pick up Steve.’

Robin clutches her chest like a scandalised caricature. ‘Bad news, Romeo. Stevie already left.’

The alpha’s smile drops. ‘What do you mean he already left?’

‘He seemed pretty excited about your little date but then Henderson turned up.’

‘Who’s Henderson?!’ Billy growls.

A laugh catches in Robin’s throat. She looks across the counter at him in disbelief, before slowly coiling her mouth into a smile. ‘Oh, he and Steve go way back! Everyone knows how close they are, I mean Steve practically jumped into his arms. I think he completely forgot about you.’

Billy’s voice sounds both threatening and weak. ‘This Henderson, is be big? You think I could take him in a fight?’

Robin spoons more ice cream into her mouth, words coming out cold on Billy’s face. ‘I don’t know about that. I don’t like alphas but that Henderson, damn. He’s like six and a half foot and built like a fucking ox. If I had to bet on it…. Well I wouldn’t put my money on you.’

‘I can’t believe this!’ Billy leans back, eyes full of hurt.

‘Sorry, lover boy,’ Robin says as she strokes his hand in comfort, smearing chocolate ice cream on his skin. ‘Guess you’ll have to spend your lunch break alone.’

The alpha rubs his temples and hangs his head. ‘Thanks for the heads up I guess,’ he tells the girl as he turns towards the door.

‘Don’t mention it!’ She calls out after him.

The food court was bustling with people, the ambient music through the speaker system drowned out with shouted conversations and laughter. Billy feels lonelier than ever in the crowd. As he debates whether or not to spend his lunch break chain smoking in his car, he picks out a familiar smell in the air. On instinct he follows it, mind overheating at the enticing pull of warmth and closeness. He makes his way slowly through the crowd and there he sees him.

Steve is sitting in the middle of the food court, swarms of alpha’s seated on the tables around him, marvelling at the way he throws his head back in laughter. The laugh itself makes Billy’s stomach churn, the memory of Steve snorting as Billy told him a shitty joke on the way home. Even though the laugh itself was ugly, every alpha in the mall treated the sound like a beautiful melody.

Billy watches him pathetically from the corner of the crowd when the omega spots him. Steve smiles widely at him and stands up to gesture him over with a wave. Every alpha in the mall follows Steve’s eyes and glares at him.

With the omega’s welcoming smile and enticing scent, Billy was powerless to resist the urge to walk over.

‘Billy!’ Steve exclaims when he reaches the table, ‘I’m so sorry! I told Robin to give you my message, I’m glad you’re here.’

The smell is almost unbearable this close. Billy’s mind is too busy trying to decipher it that he doesn’t look across the table at Steve’s date. He sniffles his nose again, the scent deeper. It smells like the omega but magnified, an underlying hint of complexity that reminds Billy of his mother.

The alpha shakes his head. ‘Don’t worry about it, I’ll leave you to it.’

‘Leave me to what?’ Steve questions, ‘Sit down! There’s someone I want you to meet.’

He extends his arm across the table to point at not an intimidatingly handsome alpha but a small nerdy looking beta who is trying his best to look intimidating. Billy furrows his brow and the boy copies him. The scent spikes again and then the alpha realises.

Steve had scent marked the kid.

‘Dustin, this is Billy. He’s….’ the omega stumbles for a moment before finally adding, ‘Max’s brother.’

The beta boy looks Billy up and down with a glare. ‘He doesn’t look like Max.’

‘Uh that’s because we’re not actually related,’ Billy excuses in a hopefully even tone.

Dustin nods. ‘Oh, so you’re like a stray?’

Steve gasps and flicks the boy’s face. His voice darkens like a scolding mother. ‘Dustin! You can’t say things like that.’

‘Uh sort of?’ The alpha tries to defuse, eyes falling to his feet. He feels both their gazes on him. ‘Well my dad married her mom.’

Steve stands beside him and crosses his arms. ‘They’re step-siblings. Related though marriage is still related, idiot.’

‘Well,’ Billy’s voice catches in his throat, ‘they aren’t married anymore.’

A long awkward pause stretches out. Dustin seems to enjoy it. In apology the omega grabs his shoulder, half shoving and guiding him into the chair. The seat is warm and the smell of Steve grows even stronger.

‘I’ll go get you some lunch,’ the omega announces and turns away. Billy meets the glare of the beta before he grabs Steve’s hand.

‘No really I wouldn’t want to… interrupt.’ He stands up but Steve tries to push him back down.

‘Please stay,’ he wines, eyes so beautifully wide that Billy’s knees buckle and he falls back into the chair. The omega’s sadness drops immediately. ‘Don’t worry, the alpha from the hot dog place has a crush on me so I get all my food for free.’

Dustin scoffs. ‘That’s called prostitution.’

‘That’s called being _resourceful,’_ the omega scolds, ‘you’re more than welcome to pay for your own lunch, Dustin.’

The beta takes a long sip of his soda.

Steve flickers his gaze between them. ‘I’ll be right back!’

Billy’s alpha gulps as he watches the kid’s stare darken with every step Steve takes away from them. Dustin leans back into his chair like a super villain, lacing his fingers together.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, the alpha clears his throat. ‘So, Steve is like your…?’

‘He’s my brother,’ the boy finishes sternly.

Billy squints at the details of the boy’s face. He felt slightly offensive for thinking it but it was hard to associate Steve’s almost celestial level beauty to a pudgy kid in his pre-teens. The disbelief shows on his face. ‘You’re related?’

‘Not by blood.’ Sensing Billy’s interjection he quickly adds, ‘Steve’s pack.’

The alpha shuffles awkwardly. ‘Right.’

Sensing the lull in the conversation Billy surveys the food court. The muttering from the crowd seems to have quietened down, instead their gazes fixate on Steve as he leans across the counter at the hot dog stand with a flirtatious smile.

Billy swallows a lump in his throat and subtly shifts back to Dustin who’s glaring at him once more.

‘I know what you’re trying to do,’ the boy growls.

The alpha scoffs at the sound. ‘And what am I trying to do?’

‘Fuck him.’

Billy jumps, looking around the mall to check if anyone had heard the words. The beta doesn’t react, just tightens his stare.

‘Holy shit!’ the alpha cries, dumbstruck. ‘You’re like ten, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Jesus you can’t say stuff like that kid.’

Dustin slams his cup down. ‘I’m not a kid. I’m thirteen and I’ve been around enough alphas to know what you’re trying to do to Steve. But I’m not going to let you.’

The alpha rubs his temples. ‘Look kid, this is cute but you’re wrong.’

‘So you didn’t kiss him yesterday?’

_‘He told you about that?!’_

Dustin waves his arms in the air. ‘Steve tells me everything! And I mean everything.’

There’s a defensive urge to reach over and slap the kid, but then Billy picks up the smell of Steve nestled into the boy’s mundane scent. If this kid was important enough to both ditch Billy for and be scent marked, the alpha has a sneaking suspicion that any violence or shouting towards the boy wad result in a very angry omega.

Billy exhales to clear his mind of anger. ‘Look I’m not trying to… sleep with him okay, I like him. Like a lot. And we’re talked about his past and the way all those assholes treated him and I’m not going to do that.’

For a moment the beta’s expression softens. ‘You’re right because I’m not going to let you.’ He picks up his plastic fork in a crushing grip, the material threatening to splinter as he growls, ‘stay away from him or…. or I’ll…’

‘Or you’ll what?’ Billy laughs.

Dustin throws the broken fork at him, the action surprisingly painful. ‘I’ll kill you. I know the sheriff, he’ll help me cover it up. Stay away from Steve or I swear to god I’ll… kill you _so_ hard.’ He smirks villainously. ‘Do you really want to die because of a stupid crush?’

‘What stupid crush?’ Steve asks.

The two of them quickly turn to see the omega holding two hot dogs and a concerned expression. Both of them try and muster up a believable reason for the smell of frustration and the now bruising mark on Billy’s arm.

The omega gasps as he sits down. ‘Are you talking about your crush on Max?’

‘No!’ Dustin screams, face shifting from menacing glare to whiny child.

Now it was Billy’s turn to scowl. ‘You have a crush on my sister?’

‘She’s not actually your sister,’ the beta bites. He turns to Steve with an offended frown. ‘And that was a secret! You pinkie swore you wouldn’t tell anyone. Besides, Max is old news now.’

Steve and Billy glare at him. _‘Excuse me?’_ they scold in unison.

Dustin face flushes, hands moving quickly in attempt to pacify them. ‘Not like old news, she’s not old. Don’t get me wrong Max is really hot,’ the glaring intensities, ‘I mean totally not hot!’

The omega points a finger at the boy, finger covered in mustard from the hot dogs. ‘I did not raise you to talk about omegas that way.’ He punctuates the demand by sucking the sauce from his fingertip, never once softening his gaze.

Dustin hangs his head. He starts mumbling a rebellion under his breath.

Steve takes the boy’s soda away. ‘I’m sorry, what was that?’

‘I said you’re a hypocrite because you kissed Billy!’ The beta shouts, grasping for his cup like a toddler.

Everyone in the food court grows quiet and looks accusingly at their table.

Steve’s face flushes pink and he holds the cup out of the boy’s reach. _‘Why the hell are you bringing that up!_ You pinkie swore you wouldn’t say anything.’

The beta stands up and snatches back his soda. ‘Well you broke my pinkie promise.’ He takes a long victory sip before smugly looking back over at Billy. ‘You can’t tell me off for being an asshole because you kissed the king of all assholes. Max says Billy brings a different omega home every night and they make really weird sounds.’

Billy hits the cup out of the boy’s hands and drops his composure. ‘You little shit! And I don’t do that anymore!’

‘But you wish you were,’ Dustin rivals.

The soda splashes all of them as it tumbles to the table. Billy creates another splash when he smacks the table loudly. ‘You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.’

‘I know more than you, knothead!’

_**‘Take that back.’** _

Suddenly Steve grabs them both by the hair and yanks them back into their seats. ‘Oh my god will you two shut up already!’ He yells, voice echoing throughout the now silent food court. ‘You’re acting like children.’

Dustin crosses his arms. ‘I am a child.’

‘No, you’re thirteen and you’re smart. You know how rude it is to talk about people’s personal lives and calling them names, especially when you just met them.’ Steve speaks down at the boy, hand on his hip and finger gesturing wildly in the air.

The boy looks at table. ‘Sorry, Steve.’

Billy exhales finally before the omega points at him with an equally excusing glare.

‘And you!’ Steve snaps, ‘Dustin is a child-’

‘-But you just said,’ Dustin attempts but Steve just raises his voice.

‘-He is _only_ thirteen and he’s dumb. You can’t use your alpha voice to threaten him just because he’s being childish.’

Billy subconsciously mimics Dustin. ‘Sorry, Steve.’

The omega places both his hands on his hips and smiles, seemingly satisfied with his terrifying defusal. He steps over the puddle of soda on the floor and moves Dustin’s face to look at him.

‘You can ride your bike home and if you apologise to Billy, _and_ Max, I won’t tell your mom about your bad language, okay?’

The beta sighs in annoyance. ‘Fine.’ He glares at Billy. ‘Sorry I called you a knothead.’

Steve smiles. ‘Good.’ He watches the boy stand up before pulling him into a hug. The omega croons and rubs his neck against the boy in apology. ‘Text me so I know you got home safe.’

Whatever Dustin’s reply is gets lost in Steve’s embrace. The moment was to be shared by them and them alone. Billy watches the two mournfully as Dustin shuffles away. The scent of Steve’s warmth is complimented by his smile.

The omega turns back towards him and puts his hands back on his hips. ‘And you!’ He pauses for dramatic effect. ‘You have to drive me home.’

Billy grins as Steve sits back down across form him. ‘I always drive you home.’

‘I know but for your punishment I won’t talk to you,’ he takes a bite of his hot dog. ‘And I’ll play _Queen_ because I know you hate them. And you have to eat one of my ice creams.’

Billy watches the mustard drip onto Steve’s chin with an amused look. ‘Whatever you want.’

Steve stills. ‘You’d seriously shit yourself to make it up to me?’

‘If it would really make you feel better.’

The omega’s eyes soften. ‘That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.’ He wipes away the mess from his face. ‘You don’t have to eat ice cream or shit yourself for me. You don’t even have to drive me home, seriously.’ Steve rubs his neck. ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into me today. It’s probably just me being cranky because my dad tuned up. And I feel like I’m coming down with something.’

Billy leans forward, concerned. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m sure it’s nothing.’ Steve smiles mischievously into his hot dog, ‘maybe you gave me something when you kissed me yesterday.’

Billy laughs. ‘I’m pretty sure you kissed me.’

‘I don’t know about that. I think I remember you coercing me into the bathroom and pushing me against the wall,’ Steve smirks.

The alpha leans over and moves a lock of Steve’s hair that threatens to fall into his mustard covered hot dog. ‘You’re more than welcome to check the surveillance footage.’

They lean closer, too close. Billy prepares himself for the warmth of Steve’s lips to press against him before the omega swears under his breath. Steve presses his forehead against Billy’s. ‘I should go help Robin out. I’ll see you after work though, for your punishment.’

The alpha leans back into his chair and picks up the other hot dog. ‘I’ll look forward to it.’

* * *

Steve did talk to him on the car ride home, mouth constantly moving to fill the silence with mundane comments as if to distract themselves from the space between them. As he drove up to Steve’s house he watched the omega’s mouth finally close and for a moment he was almost sure he’d lean over the gearstick to kiss him goodbye. But Steve just gave him a long parting look and promised to see him tomorrow. Billy drove the rest of the way home in a deafening silence.

When he opens the front door, he sees Susan fixing her reflection in the hallway. She’s dressed nicely, a slight heel and big earrings. As she opens up a tube of bright lipstick she turns to him with a small smile. ‘Hey sweetie, I’m going out tonight can you keep an eye on Maxine?’

Billy takes off his shoes and places them beside the door like a house guest. ‘Of course,’ he tells her.

He doesn’t meet her gaze in the mirror as he slips past her into the kitchen, the light from the hallway the only refuge in the small room. Billy can feel Susan’s eyes tracking him from the mirror. The alpha pretends to busy himself until he sees a letter on the kitchen table addressed to him. The handwriting is messy and in capital letters, his name looking angry in blue ink. Carefully Billy picks the letter up, the surprising weight making his fingers shake.

Behind him Susan rubs at a smudge of lipstick on her face. Her voice is cautiously soft. ‘Are you going to open it?’

The feigned casual sound of her voice pulls Billy from his daze. Methodically he tears the letter over and over again until the words are unreadable. Still the alpha doesn’t seem satisfied, striding towards the kitchen sink where he empties the small fragments of paper into the garbage disposal and turns the switch on. He stands there listening to the gargling of the compactor as he tries to catch his breath.

In the harsh mechanical whirling Billy suddenly feels a hand on his cheek, soft and warm. Susan rubs her thumb over his cheekbone soothingly. The alpha leans into her subconsciously. Susan doesn’t comment on the feeling of closeness, just smiles up at him.

Billy looks into her eyes that look so much like Max’s. ‘I’ll look after her,’ the alpha tells her with a determined tone, ‘I promise.’

‘I know you will,’ she says easily, and Billy can feel his mind clear.

After a moment Susan finally pulls away, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. ‘I’m going out with the girls tonight, so I might be back late. I put your dinner in the fridge.’ She shouts down the hallway as she reaches the door, ‘and Max you better be on your best behaviour for your brother.’

Billy waves her off as she gets in the parked car, the smell of her perfume and easy-going beta scent easing his mind once more. He closes the front door to keep the house’s warmth inside, the door catching on a foreign pair of shoes by the floor. They were small but definitely not Max’s, soles too clean to be associated with the unruly omega. Billy stares at the shoes like they offend him. He contemplates their existence as he hears a shuffle and a giggle in Max’s room.

Holding one of the shoes the alpha marches to Max’s bedroom door and throws open the door, ready to threaten the alpha boy from the arcade and throw him out the house.

But as the door bangs open Max scowls at him from the floor, magazine in her hand and Eleven sitting beside her mid laugh. The redheaded omega growls at him. ‘Do you knock? Jeez.’

‘Yeah, jeez,’ Eleven parrots. She’s holding another magazine but hers is upside down. Still the girl pretends to flick through the pages like Max does.

Billy drops the shoe, embarrassed. ‘Uh sorry, I thought…’

‘That I was making out with a boy? Please.’ Max rolls her eyes.

Eleven mimics the movement, ‘Yeah, _please.’_

Max sits up and looks up at him with confidence. ‘Me and Lucas are so over. Mom’s _Cosmo_ says this is the summer of the self,’ she holds up the cover that shows a model sitting on a beach drinking cocktails, a man holding the tray behind her looking sad. ‘I’m officially over alpha bullshit.’

Billy almost laughs. ‘You and me both, kid.’ He feels a strange relaxed pride seeing Max being so sure of herself, cuddled up to her friend and smelling of pure interrupted joy. The alpha stands in the doorway watching them and before he debates leaving the room he turns back to them. ‘Hey, do you know a kid called Dustin?’

Both omegas look up at him in surprise. Max raises and eyebrow. ‘Yeah. He’s in the party.’

‘The party? Is that some sort of _Lord of the Rings_ nerd shit?’ Billy asks with a smirk.

‘No, it’s _Dungeons and Dragons_ , dingus.’ She opens up her magazine again and starts thumbing through the pages. El copies her, eyes trained on the other omega as if to make sure she was doing it correctly.

Billy wonders if Eleven could even read.

Max turns to an article about summer fashion and traces the model’s profile absentmindedly. ‘The party is basically our pack.’

The alpha stutters in the doorway. ‘You have a pack?!’

‘Yeah.’

Billy takes a step into her room and crosses his arms. ‘Do you know he has a giant crush on you?’

The redhead doesn’t look up from her magazine. ‘I know. It’s really obvious.’

‘Really obvious,’ Eleven copies again.

The two of them start giggling, rolling onto the floor and clutching at each other.

Billy looks down at them with a look of disbelief. ‘Damn Maxine, who knew you were such a heartbreaker?’

They continue to laugh until Eleven sits up trying to catch her breath and picks up her magazine, fingers running along the glossy paper. ‘I like Dustin he’s funny,’ the girl comments off-handily, for once not mimicking Max whose smile drops beside her. ‘And Lucas is really sweet.’

_‘Really?’_ Max repeats in a roar. She pulls the magazine out of the girl’s hands and points to the cover. ‘It’s the summer of the self, El. We agreed not to waste our time on shitty boys. I was there for you after Mike was a dick, this is girl code.’ She drops her tone when Eleven frowns. The two omega’s link arms and open up their magazines again. ‘The summer of the self means no alphas or annoying boys, which also means: _get the hell out of my room Billy!’_

The alpha steps away with his arms held up. ‘Jesus, you’re so hormonal.’

‘You did not just say that!’ Both omegas scream in unison.

Billy manages to dodge the magazine thrown at him, but before he can escape to his room Eleven throws her shoe expertly at his back causing the girls to giggle into the early hours of the morning.

* * *

When he pulls up to Steve’s house the next morning he’s relieved to sees no other car in the driveway. Billy turns the engine off and watches the shape of the omega shift from window to window frantically. After a few minutes of admiring Steve’s morning rush with amusement, the omega opens the front door and anxiously shuffles towards the car. The passenger door isn’t locked but it still takes Steve several attempts to open it. Framed by the window the boy looks sweaty and exhausted.

Billy’s concerned question gets answered as the omega opens the door and sits down.

There’s an awkward silence that’s disturbed only by Steve trying to buckle his seatbelt. The omega doesn’t say anything, just stares forward waiting for Billy to start driving. But the alpha doesn’t move.

Billy clears his throat, trying to remember how to work his tongue. ‘Uh… are you feeling okay?’

Steve blinks tiredly, subconsciously rubbing his scent glands. The overwhelming smell of his heat grows even stronger. Both their instincts know exactly what’s going on but neither dare utter the words. The scent of desire is thick in the air urging his alpha brain to _fuck, bite_ and _**claim.**_

Billy grinds his teeth and anchors himself by tightly holding the steering wheel.

‘I’m fine,’ the omega mumbles eventually, not sounding wholly convinced by his own words. His voice is so small that Billy glances over to him on instinct, quickly snapping his gaze away when he sees the slick on the omega’s thighs.

He’s at war with his alpha as he closes his eyes and takes a few steady breaths from his mouth, not daring to reveal in the scent any longer. ‘I think you should stay home today.’

Visibly uncomfortable, Steve shuffles in his seat and tugs the collar of his sailor costume in a desperate attempt to cool himself. The heat radiating from his flushed cheeks seems to fuel his anger. ‘I can’t! I already used all my sick days for my heat last month.’

‘Your boss legally has to give you days off for your heat,’ Billy attempts but Steve kicks the console of his car in a deliberate jerk. Luckily the air bag doesn’t go off.

Steve’s cheeks grow even redder. ‘Well there’s a lot of things my boss should do.’ Despite his words, the smell of is heat is far stronger than his voice, like a monologue of want and need that drowns out his dismissal. He looks glumly out of the window and covers his thighs with his hands. ‘It was probably just something I ate.’

If this was any other situation Billy would have laughed at the words. Instead he lowers his tone sternly. ‘You’re going into heat.’

‘I’m not!’ Steve snaps, ‘I had my heat last month, I’m not due for another three months. It can’t be my heat. It’s… it’s just a fever.’

Both their holds on civility was slowly slipping, the primal instincts making their tones more desperate and outraged. Billy’s too scared of his alpha to look at the brunette again. He leans into his seat with a morose sigh.

‘I’m not driving you to work like this,’ Billy attempts to reason.

Steve just growls, the sound uncharacteristically deep and primal. ‘Fine then, I’ll get the bus.’ He reaches for the passenger door, so Billy turns on the child lock. The omega pulls at the door handle with sweaty hands.

The alpha deepens his voice. ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for you to leave your house right now-‘

‘Now what!?!’ Steve cries, turning to Billy with tensed fists. ‘Now you’re convinced I want you? Now you want to hold me down and fuck me? Now some other alpha might want me too, so you lock me in your car?’

The words are harsh enough to cut through the haze of Steve’s heat. Billy’s eyes widen and he drops his head submissively. He unlocks the car door, hoping that Steve won’t leave him here alone. Steve looks equally horrified by the words, body shaking as if suddenly cold despite the sheen of sweat covering his body.

Billy softens his gaze. ‘I’m telling you this as a friend, and as your friend I can’t let you go to work.’

Soft brown eyes look almost amber as Steve reaches for the door and shouts. ‘Fuck you Billy. You can’t tell me what to do you’re not my alpha.’

Once again, the omega struggles with the door handle.

The reality of the dangerous situation dawns on Billy, of Steve walking down the street to catch the bus where an alpha drags him away, of Steve in a daze from his heat wondering into the wrong store where hundreds of alphas could sniff out his desperation. The image of Steve’s boss grinning when the omega enters the store, slick drenching his shorts, makes Billy pick up his phone.

‘Fine,’ he tells the omega as he types in the number, ‘you’re too stubborn and I’m too controlling. Let’s call a referee.’

Dial tones sound through the Bluetooth. Steve lets go of the handle worriedly. ‘What are you talking about?’

Robin picks up on the last ring. _‘What the fuck do you want asshole? I was asleep.’_

The alpha stares into the radio like she can see him. He runs a hand through his hair to make himself look more presentable. ‘Robin, Steve is going into his heat-’

‘-I’m not!’ Steve interrupts.

‘And I think he should stay home, but Steve says-’

_‘-Steve_ can speak for himself,’ the omega snaps, ‘and I say I’m fine so I’m going to work.’

He reaches for the door handle again but his attempts are weaker. The omega is losing control over his body. His head sways as he tries to level himself but ends up just banging his forehead on the window.

The pathetic sound must be audible enough for Robin because she sighs through the speakers. _‘Stevie drop your ego for a second,’_ she soothes, voice both pragmatically firm and relaxing. _‘You know you can’t come to work if you’re starting your heat. I don’t need to tell you how dangerous it is. Someone could hurt you or… worse. Just go home and relax, I’ll take over your shift.’_

Billy nods along to her words and looks over to Steve to check if he was convinced. The omega’s hands are no longer pulling at the door handle, but his shoulders start rocking, breath coming out in desperate gasps. The alpha becomes alert suddenly, scared the omega was having some sort of seizure.

But then Steve turns around with tears running down his face.

‘I can’t do this again,’ he sobs, the sound coming out like hiccups. ‘I barely made it through last time. I can’t… I can’t be alone again.’ He looks up at Billy. ‘Please don’t make me do it again.’

As breathtakingly beautiful as the omega was, Billy had to admit that Steve was an ugly crier. His pale face was flushed bright red, wide eyes squinting and snot dripping from his nose. Suddenly Steve isn’t the firecracker omega with a sharp controlled wit, but a frightened child.

Billy can’t control his instincts at the sight. He reaches over and wipes at the tears on his cheeks. The omega nuzzles into his hands, trying to rub them against his scent glands. Billy holds his face carefully. ‘Hey, you can do this. You’re the most badass omega I’ve ever met. You can do this.’

The omega’s snuffles shorten. He places his hands over Billy’s. ‘I’m so scared.’

‘I can go to pharmacy and pick you up some suppressants,’ he tells the omega, pulling his hands away, instincts urging him to do something, _anything,_ to calm the omega. If Billy played his cards right he could have a beautiful omega presenting on his hands and knees, begging the alpha to do whatever he wanted to his body.

But Billy wasn’t playing anymore.

Sensing the spike in his scent, Steve smiles up at him with hopeful wet eyes. ‘Or you could stay with me?’

Robin suddenly announces herself through the speakers, both of them half forgetting she was still there. _‘No, Steve!’_

‘Not like that,’ the omega defends, wiping away his tears. ‘I mean could you stay outside? Just right here so… so I know you’re still there.’ For a boy hours into his heat, Steve sounds nervous, like he’s asking too much.

Billy turns his body completely towards him and smiles earnestly. ‘Of course.’ He reaches over and opens Steve’s door, holding his breath as gets closer, training his eyes on the window. ‘You go back inside, and I’ll stay here.’

Steve unbuckles his seatbelt. ‘You’ll really stay. Even though you’re working and…’

‘I’ll stay here as long as you need me to,’ Billy promises, hand lingering for a final fleeting touch on the omega’s cheek.

With slow unsteady footing the omega exits the car and walks back over to the house. Billy watches him even after he disappears from sight, the smell of his heat and the fading warmth from his cheek on the alpha’s palm the only reminder of his existence.

After sitting in a longing silence, a voice pulls him from his internal monologue.

_‘You are so pathetic,’_ Robin laughs through the Bluetooth. _‘You are so in love with him its actually pathetic.’_

Billy smiles. ‘I know.’

_‘Try not to choke on your own saliva. I’ll talk to you soon.’_

He hangs up the phone and continues sitting there in silence. The alpha doesn’t leave when Barb sends him an angry text message or his boss threatens to fire him. He doesn’t leave when the sun disappears or his stomach gurgles.

Even when he can no longer stay away, Billy doesn’t leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much for all your incredible support. Even though this chapter took longer than I hoped you've been so patient with me. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, hope I didn't leave your balls to blue <3


	5. Hell or High Water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took me so long but this chapter is over 10,000 WORDS and it was stubborn and eventful so I literally took me a whole month to finish. I hope this chapter will work as a justified apology and a promise that I'll never leave it this long again!

Billy doesn’t remember the drive home, he just somehow appears in his driveway, as if suddenly roused from an unsure night’s sleep. The only thing to convince him it was real is the fading smell of Steve’s heat that had seeped into his leather seats. He tries to steady his breathing but with each inhale his mind wanders further away, back to the driveway, back to Steve.

After what seems like an eternity he finally feels human enough to walk inside. He flicks on the hallway light but the bulb just fizzes. The only way to orientate around the darkness comes from Max’s bedroom door as she throws it open.

She crosses her arms over her mismatched pyjamas. ‘You’re in such shit with mom,’ she chastises, ‘you were supposed to pick me up at Mike’s house after work, but you forgot. I had to skate home!’

The alpha just blinks, half expecting her to disappear like some sort of mirage. But she doesn’t. Max just steps closer.

‘Are you okay?’

He looks down at his crumbled pirate costume and untied laces. Trying not to wince makes the migraine in his temple tighten. ‘I-I’m fine,’ he attempts but the omega bites her lip.

She steps closer. ‘Did something happen at work?’

‘I didn’t go to work,’ he replies simply. Fearing another question he stumbles forward, navigating the corridor like a stranger. He doesn’t realise he’s falling until Max catches him. ‘I’m fine really,’ he tries again, but she’s already coaxing him into her room and settling him down on a bean bag.

She puts a hand on his temple and Billy doesn’t know why. It doesn’t look like Max does either. The redhead is trying to give the illusion of nurture, like they were playing doctors and nurses.

The spike of nervousness in her scent has Billy’s alpha wining once more.

Despite himself, he leans into her. ‘Uh, could you go in my room and get my meds? I… I think they’re on my dresser.’

Needing no further encouragement Max sprints down the corridor, seeming to only register half of Billy’s instructions as he hears her barrelling into his room and rifling through every draw. With a muffled gasp she runs back towards him in slipper clad feet, skidding down beside him and shoving the bottle of suppressants in his shaking hands.

He struggles with the child-lock on the bottle, giving up after a few depressing attempts and cracking the lid open. Hurriedly he empties two pills into his mouth and swallows them dry.

‘Do you want to talk about it?’ Max asks, fingers intertwining awkwardly as she stares down at him.

Billy stands up and pockets the bottle of pills. ‘There’s nothing to talk about.’

He tries to smile as he pushes past her dismissively. Max’s bedroom points directly at the front door, beckoning him into the night. He hears Steve’s desperate whine fill his ears, brown eyes wet with tears as he holds onto him. The alpha sways in the corridor, blinking away his thoughts.

He swallows another pill.

Max props her door open with a pile of unwashed laundry. ‘Not even the fact that you reek of Steve Harrington?’

Billy nearly trips over himself as he turns towards her.

‘What! How did you…’ He tries to compose himself but his voice is too flustered. The young omega smirks and sits back down on her bed. Billy crosses his arms. ‘Wait, how do you know what Steve Harrington smells like?’

She opens up a magazine. ‘Uh, because he’s my friend.’

Subconsciously, Billy starts rubbing his scent glands. The primal part of his brain revels at the sensation. He doesn’t just smell like Steve anymore, he smells like them, the scent warm and longing.

Max rolls her eyes, so Billy stops.

‘We were just-’ He starts but her dramatic groan cuts him off.

‘I do _not_ want to know what you were doing!’

The hunger in his mind mistranslates the words. He steps towards her, bottle of pills rattling as he shouts, ‘I didn’t hurt him!’

Max opens and closes her mouth. The alpha can feel his throat tighten. He steps back, ready to flee for the second time that night before she sits up.

‘I know,’ she ensures. Her hand is outstretched towards him, Billy gravitates towards her wordlessly. ‘I was talking about… _you know.’_ Even as he casts a shadow over her body, Max’s blush burns brightly. ‘I know you have a giant crush on him, hell _everyone_ knows.’

Now it was Billy’s turn to look embarrassed. ‘Who the hell is everyone?!’

‘The pack,’ she answers simply. Her magazine is open on a personality quiz, shiny paper showing the title “what sort of woodland creature are you in bed?” Not sensing the new layer of disgust on his face, Max continues. ‘We tease Steve about it all the time, last week he-’

‘Wait hold up,’ he interrupts with a dramatic hand gesture, eyes closing as if not to overwhelm himself with too much information. ‘Steve Harrington is in your pack?’

Max looks back down at her magazine. ‘Yeah, he’s like a big mother hen.’ She smiles, simple and sweet. ‘It’s kind of nice to have another omega to talk to, especially after…’

Her words trail off.

Billy sits on the edge of her bed to stop himself stumbling.

The young omega leans towards him slightly. ‘I just mean it’s nice to get advice and stuff. I feel really dumb sometimes.’

‘You’re no dumb,’ he defends.

This time her small frown turns into a confident smirk. ‘I know. But it’s kind of hard to work this whole dynamic stuff out sometimes. I mean El’s great and everything but she still doesn’t know where belly buttons come from. It’s scary.’

Billy’s alpha starts to whine. Now the space between him and Steve seems trivial compared to the couple of inches away from Max who still wears the same dinosaur pyjamas as when she was a kid. Sometimes he forgets how small she actually is.

He sinks more comfortably onto the mattress. ‘Do you get scared a lot then?’

She looks at him, eyes wide and unblinking. ‘About Neil?’

‘No,’ Billy protests, sitting forward. ‘I just mean like… dynamic stuff. Does it scare you being an omega?’

He sees Steve again in his mind, tears running down his cheeks. In his anxiety ridden retelling the omega was holding on so tightly that it makes real-life Billy flinch in pain. Steve crumbles in front of him. _“I’m so scared,”_ he sobs, _“please don’t make me do it again.”_

‘Sort of,’ Max says, interrupting the self-loathing in his head. ‘It is pretty scary sometimes and heats aren’t great, but it’s also kind of fun. I get lots of presents and people do things for me all the time.’ She starts grinning wickedly at him. ‘I even got my English teacher to boost my grade up to an A plus by fake crying, it was so funny.

Sometimes Max’s pyjamas were so childish and her body was so small that he forgets how terrifyingly mature she was. ‘You really scare me sometimes.’

Wordlessly, Max shuffles over so Billy can fit more securely on her bed. They don’t lie down but now he can face her fully. Comfortably the two of them sit in a small silence as Max starts making her way through the quiz, then the silence becomes very uncomfortable. She turns over to the next page that reads “how to keep your alpha interested” above an image of a woman in a doorway, lipstick on her collar.

Billy winces and takes the magazine away from her. ‘I don’t want you to be scared of being alone,’ he whispers.

‘I’m not, I’ve got my pack,’ she dismisses, voice not softening to match Billy’s philosophical conversation starter. She snatches back her magazine but doesn’t open it. ‘And I’ve got you.’

This makes him smile. ‘What am I, your mistress pack?’

‘No!’ She snorts, ‘you’re my alpha.’

The casual atmosphere between them disappears. Billy shuffles to sit directly in front of her, blocking her view of the still open doorway.

When he first met Max she was barely ten years old, mouth missing too many teeth as she smiled at him and asked to call him her brother. Billy had laughed and pushed her over. She had cried for weeks and wouldn’t meet his eyes for even longer.

Now she was looking at him awkwardly and calling him her alpha as if she was telling him the weather.

‘W-Wait, really?’ He flusters.

He’d never felt like much of a brother, hell Billy hadn’t felt like he amounted to anything before. But now Max was telling him he was everything he feared he’d never be, responsible and protective. This way he’d legally be responsible for Max until she turned eighteen or got mated, would have to be her emergency contact if she was ever to get in trouble which, being Max, would be very likely.

She widens her eyes like he was overexaggerating, as if she didn’t just make the alpha’s heart flip inside his chest. ‘Duh, you’re my brother. Who else can I force to do whatever I say?’

Billy tries to nod casually but he was grinning stupidly. He pushes her slightly so he can lay down beside her. ‘Is that how it’s going to be? I have to be all responsible and you can just bully me?’

‘Pretty much!’ Max laughs.

There was little room for them both on the small mattress, Max elbowing him in the ribs a few times as she shuffles into the covers. Billy can only imagine Susan’s face if she was to come home now, seeing the two of them lying cramped in Max’s bed, Billy half dressed as a pirate as Max holding a toy to her chest like a toddler.

He turns towards his sister ready to repeat the thought to her, but then he catches a foreign scent on the toy. He snatches the bear from her and inspects its slightly grubby fur. ‘Is that the toy from the alpha kid at the arcade?’

Max elbows him harshly and wraps her arms around the toy, snuggling it into her chest protectively. ‘Yeah, he gave it to me to say sorry. Plus, he got me this cute necklace.’ She moves the collar of her pyjamas to the side to reveal a tacky silver chain with a cheap gemstone heart.

Billy snorts. ‘Didn’t think you were the type of girl to have her loyalties brought.’

‘I’m not!’ She snaps, hitting him with the toy. The button nose is surprisingly painful as it smacks into his forehead. ‘I was going to take Lucas back anyway, at least this way I get free stuff.’

‘So what, your dating him again? What happened to the summer of the self?’ Billy teases.

Max crosses her arms over her chest, the toy nestled between her tense arms, necklace sparking in the artificial light. ‘Seasons change,’ she announces dramatically. Billy bites back a laugh. ‘And _Cosmo_ is really sexist. And I made the executive decision to forgive him all on my own so therefore it still technically is the summer of the self.’

The smug smile on her face expects a round of applause.

Billy only snorts. ‘You are such a fucking dork.’

‘You’re the biggest dork in the universe,’ she elbows him again. ‘I can’t believe you came into my room stinking up my sheets with your hard on for Steve!’

Billy’s laughter stops. He pushes her flailing elbows away. ‘You’re such a creep! I do not have a hard on.’

‘Oh sorry you’re right, you’re in love with him!’ Max sits up and mimics his voice, puckering her lips and lowering her tone to a dull moan. _‘Oh Steve please go on a date with me! Oh Steve please give me a lick of your ice cream cone to-’_

With a scandalised gaps the alpha picks up a pillow and hits her over the head.. ‘Shut up!’ He screams as she pushes the pillow away and cackles loudly, the sound bouncing off every surface in the house in a mocking rattle.

When it finishes echoing Billy hugs the pillow with a pout. ‘Steve doesn’t really think I sound like that does he?’

Max just starts laughing louder. ‘God you are so pathetic!’ Billy raises his arm to hit her with the pillow again, so she holds out her hands defensively. The laughter leaves her voice, but her smile can still be heard. ‘Actually, Steve talks about you all the time.’

Billy sits up like a gossiping girl at a sleepover.

‘Last week,’ she continues, ‘we had a _Star Wars_ marathon and he talked all the way through _A New Hope_ about you not thinking birds had feet.’

‘Birds don’t have feet!’ He screams with a sudden unbridled passion. He lies back down and crosses his arms defensively. ‘Feet implies shoes, do you see birds waking around wearing fucking shoes? No, because they have talons.’ He starts smiling despite himself. ‘God he is such a little shit.’

Max rolls her eyes. ‘Anyway, he must really like you because he laughed for hours and you’re the least funny person I have ever met.’

‘Fuck you, I’m funny!’ He argues, hitting her with the pillow again.

The omega picks up her own pillow and smacks him harder. ‘Yeah, funny looking!’

They continue their pillow fight until Max starts winning, then Billy fakes falling asleep as she criticises his technique. But then the stress of the day catches up to him and he actually starts drifting asleep, half-cuddled against Max who snores loudly into his ear.

Despite the stressful day, Billy has the best night sleep in years.

* * *

As an apology for, in Barb’s words, “abandoning ship like a little bitch,” Billy promised to cover her shift for the next week. Unfortunately, this meant he had to somehow balance both waiting tables and mixing drinks while also trying to maintain his fading will to live. He wasn’t a great multi-tasker which resulted with an annoyed man receiving a glass of chocolate milk and a sobbing toddler at table six getting a whiskey sour.

After being screamed at by his boss and the boy’s mother, Billy was back at the bar screaming internally as another customer walked through the door. Without looking up he picks up a hand full of menus and begins his mock-friendly speech.

‘Ahoy matey and welcome to Jolly Roger’s! Will you seadogs need any kid’s menus?’

Instead of the usual screaming or a sarcastic sea joke, he receives no reply. Billy looks up annoyed only to drop the menus when he sees the familiar face.

Nancy Wheeler gives him an awkward smile. ‘Hi Billy.’

‘Uh, hi Nancy,’ he says over the sound of a shattering glass. Someone starts ringing the bell on the bar so he quickly retreats back, fearing another lecture from his boss. Nancy follows him, the sound of her sensible heels on the sticky wooden floor adding to the bustling sounds of the restaurant. The alpha turns towards her uneasily. ‘Barb’s actually not working today, I’m covering for her.’

‘I’m here to see you,’ she says. Her hair is slightly ruffled from the wind but everything about her appearance seems calculated, as if she had fussed with her reflection long enough to simulate a causal look. ‘I was just wondering if we could talk?’

Billy looks over at the busy restaurant and then back at her. ‘Now’s not really a good time, I’m working.’ He turns his back, prepared for the other alpha to leave and spare him the agony of a tedious conversation.

But Nancy Wheeler sits down.

‘Then I’ll order a drink,’ she chirps and pick up one of the drink menus. Her face flinches at the feeling of the sticky stains. ‘Wow it’s kind of hard to know what you’re ordering with all these sea puns. What’s in the _Let’s Get Shipfaced_ cocktail?’

‘Pineapple juice, coconut rum, vodka and peach schnapps,’ he recounts in monotone. The alpha could probably recite the recipes in his sleep because they’d haunted him for so long.

Nancy grimaces, features too prettily delicate to intimidate, but her eyes are readily alert. ‘That sounds gross. Why can’t you guys just serve Long Island Iced Tea or like Sex on The Beach, they’re sort of sea related, right?’

‘I’ll make sure I file that in the complaint box,’ Billy cuts dryly.

‘Sorry!’ She puts the menu down and tilts her head submissively. ‘I’ll uh, just have a water then.’

Billy puts both his hands on the bar and leans forward, territorial but not threatening. ‘You can’t sit at the bar if you’re not a paying customer.’

Her well-maintained polite exterior seems to crack slightly. ‘Fine then. I’ll have a diet soda.’

Despite the urge to snap at the other alpha, Billy begrudgingly picks up a glass and starts filling it up, never dropping Nancy’s nervous stare. It’s a small victory when she looks away.

‘Is that where Steve works?’ She asks, pointing out of the window at _Scoops Ahoy._

Billy places the full fat soda on the bar harshly. ‘Yep.’

Across the mall Robin scowls at a customer. She snatches the money from his hands and shoves it into the tip jar. The young boy throws his hands up in defence but it just seems to anger her further. Her scowl somehow looks more terrifying in her sailor costume.

Nancy seems horrified at the scene. ‘He doesn’t have to wear that outfit, does he? It looks ridiculous.’

Not missing a beat, Billy gestures to his own pirate costume with a deadpan look. ‘Welcome to the service industry. Not all of us have the privilege of getting a fancy job like you.’

‘My job’s not fancy,’ she mediates. Her ironed blazer and unladdered stockings seem to match Billy’s unconvinced eye roll. Nancy takes a small sip of her soda, seemingly noticing the fact it isn’t diet but not daring to comment on it. ‘I just work at _The Hawkins Post_ , it’s small-town news really. It’s actually kind of boring.’

Billy grows angered by her composed posture. Her back is perfectly straight, light lipstick not smudging as she suckles on the straw. Nancy looks like the poster child of middle-class alphas, the sort of girl that has a big fancy house in the suburbs and gets mated to a pretty omega who cooks apple pies.

He watches her squirm under his gaze. ‘What do you want Nancy?’

Finally, she drops her feigned polite smile. ‘I just wanted to talk to you. About Steve.’

‘What about him?’

Nancy can’t hold his intense stare very long, nervously dropping her eyes to the bar where she doodles patterns in the condensation from her glass. She coughs a little, as if to make her voice sound deeper. ‘I know it’s not really my place to say-’

‘Then don’t say it,’ Billy interrupts.

The alpha girl bites her tongue before she continues. ‘Look, I get that you don’t like me or whatever, I can’t blame you after what Steve must have told you. But I really care about him so… I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to… _pursue_ him right now.’

_‘Pursue him!?’_ Billy exclaims, volume disturbing the dull ambiance of the restaurant. His boss throws him an annoyed look, so he quietens his tone to a harsh whisper. ‘He’s not a wounded deer Nancy.’

‘No but he’s fragile,’ she looks over her shoulder nervously, curling her body into itself like a Russian nesting doll. She emerges only after the conversations of the restaurant goers continues. ‘You don’t know him like I do, I’m telling you this for your benefit. Steve isn’t like most omegas okay, he really doesn’t deal well with-’

‘-With walking in on his girlfriend fucking someone else!’ Billy interrupts again. ‘Gee I wonder why!’

Nancy’s expression darkens. ‘You weren’t there!’ She straightens her back, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear as if to centre herself. ‘After we broke up, Steve was in a really dark place. I don’t think he can come back from something like that again. Which is why I think you should….’ Her momentum falters, ‘…back off.’

A waitress hands Billy an order, whimpering as he snatches the paper from her hands. The alpha rubs his face exhaustedly and starts slamming glasses onto the bar, each sound adding a crescendo to his gradually souring mood.

‘Let me get this straight: you came to my work to threaten me to stay away from your ex-boyfriend who _you_ cheated on!’ The final glass almost shatters as he takes her by the gaze. ‘Are you fucking serious right now?’

Nancy has the audacity to look ashamed. Her eyes grow wide and desperate. ‘I know Steve. We weren’t just dating, we were best friends. Hell, I probably know him better than he knows himself.’

An interjection gets caught on Billy’s lips as she leans closer. The intensity in her eyes multiplies, hands slamming on to the bar and voice levelling like a narrator.

‘He does this all the time, he gets obsessed with someone and literally throws himself at their feet and then breaks down when they don’t unconditionally love him back.’ Nancy picks up her straw and finishes her drink with one long sip. ‘He’s always been that way. It’s textbook abandonment issues.’

Billy snatches her glass away. ‘So you want me to ignore him because he has abandonment issues? Are you hearing yourself right now?’

The other alpha drops his gaze. ‘Not completely ignore him just… cool it off.’

‘And I should listen to you because you’re some sort of expert on Steve? You’re the one who cheated on him.’

‘I’m not some sort of monster!’ She snaps, controlled scent overwhelmed with conflict that almost makes Billy take a step back. ‘He knew I didn’t like him back, he ignored all the signs because he thought he could somehow convince me to fall in love with him.’

His boss reappears and taps his watch dramatically. Billy continues to mix the drinks, putting in way too much alcohol and not enough patience. Nancy seems to relax as he starts working again.

Without moving his gaze from the drink he growls, ‘Steve trusted you.’

‘No, he needed me,’ she scoffs, ‘he needed me to validate him and tell him I loved him even though he knew I didn’t. Steve is so cripplingly insecure that he constantly needs an alpha to tell him he’s wanted or he’ll breakdown.’

Billy pushes the tray of drinks to the end of the bar, the waitress shaking as she catches them just before they fall to the floor and scurries back to the centre of the restaurant. With his hands free Billy can finally throws his arms into the air exasperated.

‘God you are so obsessed with him! Steve’s not some injured puppy sitting by the door waiting for you to come home.’ Billy throws his pirate hat onto the bar. ‘Maybe you’re the one who needs him to be insecure to help fulfil your fantasy that someone could ever love a cold-hearted bitch like you.’

All hopes of compromise and civility dissolve completely. Nancy leans forward in her stool with a look of unbridled anger. ‘You’re known him for like what, a few months? I’ve known him my whole life. You have no idea what he’s really like.’ The alpha’s volume starts to fade, words dripping with a terrifying hostility as she leans back into the chair. ‘I know everything. Hawkins is a small town, people talk. Everyone knows you’ve slept with half the omegas in town.’

The attack works, Billy’s composure faltering. The other alpha starts to pick at his sore spot.

‘You’re the type of alpha that gets what he wants even if he has to take it. Barb’s been telling me about how you spend all day staring at him and licking your lips. Steve’s not the sort of omega that you can fuck and dump like everyone else you’ve been with. But he’s dumb enough to ignore your reputation because he thinks he can change you.’

Billy swallows the assault on his ego and rivals her vindictive tone. ‘I bet you and all your high school friends love talking about reputations.’

She blinks. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Bet you were the first to spread the rumours about Steve,’ he rubs his chin with a smirk, ‘bet convincing everyone your ex was sleeping around made them all forget the fact you fucked another alpha.’

Nancy jumps from her chair again, frantically checking side to side to see if anyone heard the words. Her pale face flushes. ‘I would never talk about him like that.’

Billy laughs. ‘That’s what you’ve been doing this entire conversation! I know you live in this perfect fucking words where your mommy and daddy love you, and you have a fancy job and fancy new boyfriend but not everything is about you.’

He looks down at her as she deflates, defeated.

‘You have no right to talk to about him like you know him,’ Billy adds as he receives the next table of orders. He doesn’t bother to turn as he says, ‘I refuse to believe you know him so well and still decided to break his heart.’

Nancy starts fiddling with her empty glass again, the ice at the bottom of her drink now a sad puddle that reflects her even sadder expression back. ‘You think I don’t hate myself for what I did to him?’ She stares at Billy with wide tear-filled eyes. ‘You have no idea what it’s like to have this beautiful submissive omega in front of you, begging you to love him back, and wanting nothing more than to walk away.’

The anger between them fades.

Billy exhales and takes back her empty glass. ‘Then walk away. Let him live his own life and stop making decisions for him. Steve’s moved on, it’s about damn time you did too.’

It takes a while for the silence to grow comfortable but eventually Nancy takes a deep breath and stands up. She straightens her skirt and flattens her hair. ‘I have to go,’ she says somewhat civilly and throws a ten dollar note on the bar, ‘keep the change.’

He slides the money back towards her. ‘Nah, it’s on the house. I don’t need your money.’

Nancy’s feet sound faintly deer like as she walks away.

* * *

Even though Steve calls him in the afternoon, Billy still isn’t really awake. His night had been filled with bouts of unsatisfied sleep that he’d wake up from covered in a cold sweat without knowing why. He heard Susan shout that she’d made him a cup of coffee before leaving for work. Instead of leaving his room he made a refuge in his bedding, mind filled with Nancy’s words and the image of curdled coffee cups.

He stares motionlessly at his phone waiting for Steve to give up after each ring, but the omega waits for it to go to voicemail each time. He keeps ringing, messages filling his screen but Billy’s eyes are too sensitive with sleep to read them. Steve had changed his own ringtone to _My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean,_ pissing himself with laughter as he called him during Billy’s favourite song on the radio to interrupt the easy-going breeze with thoughts of the omega.

The same song fills the room over and over again, Nancy’s voice joining in with the repeated chorus of _“you’re the type of alpha who always gets what he wants even if he has to take it.”_

Billy puts his phone on silent.

When the nothingness becomes too much Max knock on his door. The alpha holds his breath, hiding under the covers hoping she’ll leave him to wallow in his own self-pity. But like always the universe mocks him as Max’s knocking becomes more tedious than the ringtone.

‘Go away!’ The alpha snaps. His phone keeps lighting up, flash after flash of Steve’s name swarming the screen.

‘I’m not going away,’ Max replies, ‘just open the door.’

Billy sticks his head out of the covers, eyes too sensitive to the summer sun that somehow still streams through his closed curtains. ‘Fuck off!’ He shouts again, louder this time.

Max stops knocking so he relaxes back into the comforter. But just as his eyes flutter closed again, Max opens his bedroom door with a look of mock surprise. ‘Oops, I guess it was unlocked.’

‘I’m really not in the fucking mood right now,’ he growls, pulling the covers tighter around himself.

The omega sits down on his bed. ‘Well tough shit.’

‘Don’t swear,’ Billy scolds on instinct before adding, ‘and get the fuck out of my room.’

Max just rearranges her limbs so she’s sitting more comfortably on his bed and half on top of him. She raises her eyebrow as she scowls down at him, her hair too brightly red for his brain to process. Max waits for him to explain himself and when he doesn’t she says, ‘you know Steve has finished his heat.’

Billy winces. ‘Yeah I know.’

‘Then why aren’t you going to see him?’

Billy turns over to face away from her. ‘I can’t.’

‘Why not?’ She asks the back of his head.

‘Because I’ve got my own shit to deal with!’ He shouts, snapping his head towards her with a low growl.

Max’s confident face crumbles as he sits up, staring up at him with a look of concern. ‘Did you get another letter?’

‘No, it’s just…’ he falls back to the mattress with a sigh, rubbing his temples, ‘just forget it.’

He turns back over and waits for the sound of his bedroom door slamming closed and Max stomping down the corridor. But instead the omega jumps up and sits on his chest, her surprisingly heavy weight crushing all the organs in his abdomen.

‘You don’t get to push me away anymore,’ Max barks, ‘I’m your sister!’

Billy tries to push her off but whether it was his fatigue or the fiery look in her eye, all he can do is wriggle uselessly beneath her. ‘I know because you’re annoying the shit out me by barging into my room.’

‘Siblings tell each other everything,’ she tries again, grip softening slightly.

‘No they don’t.’

‘Yes they do! Proper siblings always have these big emotional heart to hearts and help each other. Haven’t you watched Full House? We’re supposed to read each other’s diaries and tease each other about our crushes.’

Her grip is non-existent now, Billy could easily push her to the floor. instead he looks up at her with a frown. ‘I don’t have a diary.’

‘I know, I checked,’ she smirks. ‘If you did it would just say Mr Billy Harrington in stupid love hearts!’ The alpha blushes and pushes her off. Max falls into a giggling heap on the floor.

Billy turns away from her again like a stormy toddler.

‘Wait I’m sorry!’ Max whines and attempts to crawl onto his bed again. When the alpha’s body stiffens she leans back with a smile. ‘You know Steve has a diary.’

Billy turns towards her despite himself.

She smiles in victory. ‘Don’t you want to know what it says about you?’

‘No,’ he mumbles.

‘Liar! He says he had a dream where you-’

‘Oh my god shut up!’ He screams, glaring at the young omega.

‘I thought you liked him.’

Billy winces and starts pulling a thread on his duvet. ‘It’s just… I don’t want to like breech his privacy or whatever.’

‘So you admit that you like him,’ she tries to hide the smirk as her voice turns teasing and musical, ‘you _want_ him.’

_“You’re the sort of alpha that always gets what he wants even if he has to take it.”_

To defend whatever remained of his aloof big brother exterior, Billy jumps up from his bed and grabs her by the arm, guiding her to his open bedroom door with a shove. ‘Fuck off, Maxine. I don’t have time for this.’

‘No,’ she cries, eyes purposefully wide and innocent. She wraps her skinny arms around his abdomen like a baby sloth, squeezing the breath from his body. Uselessly Billy just endures her squealing, groaning as she shuffles out of his grip and falls back down onto the floor. Luckily one of his fallen pillows softens her landing, the omega frowning up at him as he crosses his arms.

Suddenly Billy’s phone screen lights up from its fallen spot on the floor, Steve’s name illuminating the darkness. Before Billy can feel his heart constrict inside his chest, Max jumps towards the phone and clicks accept.

All sitcom style sibling love disappears as Billy snatches the phone from her hand and pushes her back onto the floor harshly. Quickly he ends the call and stares down at Max as she rubs her elbow sadly.

‘Get the fuck out of my room and stay out of my love like.’

‘What love life?’ She rivals but drops the act a Billy lunges at her again. ‘God you are such an asshole. Why are you ignoring him?’

Billy throws the phone on his empty mattress, watching it bounce cartoonishly onto the floor. ‘Because I’ve got nothing to say to him.’

‘Okay how about you say: _“Hey Steve, I totally forgive you for getting slick in my car but it dry cleaned out and I’m pathetically in love with you so it’s all good!”’_

‘Shut up!’ He growls, furiously making his bed. ‘This has nothing to do with you.’

Max slowly gets to her feet. ‘Just pick up the phone, he obviously really wants to talk to you.’

The alpha looks at his phone on the floor, screen full of unread messages. ‘Well he can keep waiting, see if he likes how it feels.’

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ The red head questions taking Billy by the arm.

He shakes off her hand. ‘None of your business.’

The sunlight is fading now, the sound of the day is muffled by the deafening silence. Billy’s phone is the only refuge in the dark room.

‘You know you’re acting like a real asshole,’ Max growls, holding one of his pillows ransom. ‘You can’t just promise an omega you’ll wait for them after their heat and just ignore them, that’s like the first rule of being an alpha.’

Billy’s stare turns dark. ‘ _He_ kissed _me_ and ignored it alright, he started it.’

‘It takes two to kiss, asshole.’ She rivals his expression and stomps towards the doorway. ‘I hope you like being alone in your room all day. No one would want an alpha like you anyway.’

Before she can have the last word Billy advances on her, pushing her small body against his bedroom wall with a harsh thud. He leans over her with a humourless grin. ‘Well why don’t you go crying to your little alpha boyfriend then, see what fucking good that does you. Worked out real well for your mom didn’t it.’

A look of genuine disgust warps Max’s face. ‘Fuck you Billy!’ She pushes him away harshly with tear filled eyes and despite the alpha’s strength he steps aside, the smell of hurt souring the air as she rushes past him. ‘You’re acting just like him,’ she spits as she slams his bedroom door in his face.

Billy kicks his bedside table, spilling his bottle of suppressants across the floor. He throws himself onto his bed and screams into his pillow, hot angry tears welling in his eyes. In the darkness he waits for sleep to overwhelm him, but it doesn’t.

Eventually he hears Max flee the house and skate clumsily down the gravelly driveway. He hears Susan come home with a confused chirp and eat dinner, her only company being the sound of canned laughter from the television.

What he doesn’t hear is his ringtone, just the sound of his own self-indulging anger every time his phone lights up with another desperate message.

The omega keeps calling even after Billy’s battery dies.

* * *

After two days of radio silence and exactly eight separate phone calls to Hopper to make sure she was still alive, Max comes back home with a sour expression on her face. Susan had scolded her before rushing out to her second job while Billy stirred the pot on the stove and attempted a small reconciling smile.

‘I made your favourite,’ he tells the omega somewhat sheepishly, ‘mac and chesses with little hot dogs cut up.’

Max was the most transparent person Billy had ever met. He watches her cross and uncross her arms before she finally sits down at the kitchen table. ‘You can’t eat cheese.’

‘I know, but I wanted to say sorry about... before.’ He turns off the stove and places the dish in the middle of the table, burning his fingertips slightly as he starts to serve the omega. The beige food makes a disgusting sounding plop as it splatters across her plate. Billy sits down opposite her. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

Max looks at the plate of food cautiously. ‘You didn’t scare me, you were just being an asshole.’

‘I know,’ he winces, ‘I’m really sorry about what I said about you and Susan. You were just trying to help and I wanted you to leave me alone so I… I said some stupid hurtful shit and I’m sorry.’

The small redhead chews on her lip. Even though they weren’t blood related, Billy knew they both shared a mutual loathing of heart to heart confrontations. She softens her gaze. ‘I’m sorry too.’

‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,’ Billy dismisses.

‘I do. I didn’t mean what I said, you’re nothing like him. You’re a great alpha.’ She smiles at him, the action void of any of her usual sarcasm or mischief.

The whole scene feels weirdly domestic, and a stupid part of Billy’s alpha swells with pride. Watching the small omega trust him so completely to protect her, to provide for her, makes him feel something he never thought he could. Billy feels like a proper big brother.

Max puts a forkful of mac and cheese into her grinning mouth before spitting it out violently onto the table. Her previous innocent smile gets corrupted by a sour disgust. ‘But you’re a shitty cook! Jesus Billy, I thought you worked in a restaurant.’

The alpha flicks the regurgitated pasta back at her. ‘I don’t cook the food, I just serve drinks.’

She shoves the plate away with a look of abstract horror. ‘It tastes like dogshit! Why don’t you do something you can actually do and go get me a takeaway menu.’

‘It can’t be that bad,’ Billy groans, picking up a fork and sampling the now cold mac and cheese. All confidence leaves his expression when the taste registers violently on his tongue. His pride won’t let him spit it out but his body won’t let him swallow the disgusting mouthful, so instead he just holds in his mouth, too terrified to move.

When Max runs over to the fridge to wash her mouth out he finally gags into a paper towel.

The redhead hands him a soda in solidarity. ‘You need to get mated fast, you’ll die on your own.’

Billy winces, this time not from the taste.

‘Sorry,’ Max whispers.

‘It’s fine. I’m just feeling a bit… I don’t know _fragile_ right now.’

The room feels uncomfortably tense. He can hear the fridge hum and the deadly pot of mac and cheese gurgle like some sort of living creature.

Max shifts forward on her chair, not quite touching him but making her presence known. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

The alpha leans back. ‘No,’ he tries to smile, ‘don’t worry about me.’

A look of sudden realisation flashes across Max’s face. She picks up her phone and starts texting, eyes flickering from her screen to Billy’s self-loathing expression. A smirk threatens to expose her, so quickly she announces, ‘I know how you can make it up to me.’

Billy furrows his brow. ‘How?’

‘You could drop me off at Mike’s.’ She stands up and puts back on her jacket. ‘It’s our monthly D and D session and if I don’t go the whole campaign is screwed. The boys spend all their experience points on strength and charisma, without my stealthy skill they’ll just spend the night beating up goblins and trying to get into brothels.

Billy watches helplessly as his sister flurries around the room. ‘Your friends are fucking weird.’ She throws his car keys at him harshly in retaliation, the alpha catching them with a smirk. ‘And you couldn’t be stealthy if you fucking tried.’

Max puts on her threateningly submissive pout. ‘If you drop me off I’ll forgive you forever.’

After another agonizingly long shift, Billy wanted nothing more than to go to bed and stare at his ceiling, pessimistically hoping to fall asleep without Nancy’s words polluting his dreams. But as he looks at the omega’s hopeful eyes he stands up.. ‘Fine. But after this I am officially forgiven, okay?’

The omega smirks wickedly as they walk to the car. _‘Totally_ forgiven.’

Max keeps smirking and texting until they pull up to a modest suburban house. Despite the state wide drought the garden is a lush green, flowers perfectly manicured as they line the driveway.

‘Is this it? Billy asks the passenger seat, realising Max had already sprinted out of the car to ring the doorbell. The air-conditioned air follows her into the sunset, the atmosphere feeling suddenly humid and hard to swallow.

Through the sprinklers Max shouts, ‘hey Billy, can you bring my bag?’

The alpha scowls at the backpack and then back at Max. ‘I’m not your butler. Come back and get it yourself.’

‘Please?’ she wines.

Billy picks up her backpack with a sigh and follows her. As a small act of rebellion he makes sure to take his time, feigning exhaustion as he slowly drags himself up the driveway.

Max rolls her eyes and leans on the doorbell harder.

Just as the alpha realises the suspicious emptiness of her bag and sees a flash of brown hair through the curtains, its already too late to turn around.

Steve opens the door somewhat sheepishly. It feels strange to see him again, outside his uniform and in the homely suburban setting. The omega’s wearing an oversized jumper that covers his hands as they fiddle with the dishtowel thrown over his shoulder. Billy almost smiles when Steve hugs Max, but when he’s close enough to catch the fading smell of the omega’s heat he steps back.

Noticing his apprehension, Steve gives him an unsure smile. ‘Hi.’

Billy drops his eyes. ‘Yeah, uh hi.’

The silence stretches on, ugly and uncomfortable. Max fidgets awkwardly between them, feet itching to run into the house and abandon the very situation she created. The alpha catches her apologetic eye with a harsh glare. If the redhead wanted a sitcom style sibling relationship, then Billy’s going to dial his active passive aggression way up. His lips open to mouth a cursed insult before Steve speaks again.

‘I really didn’t want it to seem like I was ambushing you but you weren’t answering my calls and Max said you were feeling-’

‘-For the last time I’m fine!’ Billy interrupts. He throws Max’s empty backpack on the floor and steps back far enough to nearly fall down the porch stairs. Both omegas flinch before he caches himself. He points to Max to divert attention from his flushed cheeks. ‘Just call me when you need picking up, shitbird.’

Max nods and grabs her backpack, skidding into the house to flee her brother’s wrath.

Alone in the doorway, Steve opens his mouth to say something and softens his eyes. He looks pitying, like the alpha was some sort of wounded bird. So Billy does what he does best and takes flight, jogging down the stairs while grasping for his car keys.

‘Billy wait!’ Steve calls after him but the alpha just quickens his pace.

He reaches into the wrong pocket and pulls out his pack of smokes, quickly placing a cigarette between his lips to stop himself from replying.

Sure enough the omega chases after him.

‘Please, Billy,’ Steve cries, ‘I didn’t know what else to do. I kept calling and calling but you wouldn’t pick up. I just wanted to-’

The alpha turns around violently, feet skidding on the gravelly driveway. ‘I didn’t pick up the phone because I don’t want to talk to you!’ He snaps. Steve stops advancing, staring up at him with tear-filled eyes. Billy stumbles to find his lighter, desperate to look away from the stunned omega. But even in the non-existent breeze, his lighter doesn’t even spark. ‘You can go behind my back with Max all you want but I can’t do this anymore.’

Steve pulls his sweater tighter around himself as if trying to shield himself from the words. When Billy steps backwards Steve moves closer. ‘I’m sorry about making Max bring you here but I needed to see you so I could tell you that I’m sorry,’ his eyes are wide and wet, ‘whatever I did to make you hate me I’m so sorry.’

It would be easy to walk away. Billy feels the comforting weight of his car keys in his pocket and the cigarette between his fingers almost beckons him. He needs to feel the hum of is engine, cigarette between his lips and hair flowing in the wind. But the pull of disassociation and nicotine has nothing on the deep brown of Steve’s too expressive eyes.

‘I don’t hate you,’ Billy breathes out as he steps closer with deliberately softer steps. ‘I just…’ he tucks the unlit cigarette behind his ear, ‘I just think we should take some space from each other.’

Steve steps back and reaches out for him at the same time. His hand is suspiciously cold in the humid summer air. ‘I should never have approached you in my heat okay, it was stupid and dangerous and I can’t imagine how awful it must have been for you. But I ignored all the symptoms because it was way too early. I thought it was impossible until-’

Billy presses a finger against Steve’s lips. ‘I know okay and I don’t blame you or anything, it’s just…’

‘Just what?’ he asks, each word soft against Billy’s finger, ‘Can you just come inside so we can talk about this?’

Before he can disagree, Steve wraps a hand around his finger, curling his hand and into his and starts tugging him towards the house.

‘Okay,’ the alpha adds just to calm his own ego that he still holds any power in this interaction.

He lets himself marvel at Steve’s scent. Last time they saw each other the smell was too intoxicating, all pain and longing as he scrubbed his seats clean the next morning before work. Now Steve smells like he feels, comforting and soft and there.

The interior of the house is just as suburban, all soft furnishings and potpourri. Every surface is covered with trinkets like every middle-class home and the alpha almost expects a “live, laugh, love” sign to assault his senses with every passing corridor. Steve navigates the house easily until they reach a large kitchen. The first sign of mess is spread out across the counter along with six separate plates of sandwiches each cut into different shapes.

Billy turns to the omega with a look of confusion. ‘Is this your side job, being some rich family’s maid?’

Steve snorts and drops his hand. He picks up the sharp knife covered with mustard and licks it, tongue just short of the sharp edge. ‘Sort of. My official title is babysitter, but I do other things like being a role model, making sandwiches, putting out fires, you know the usual.’

‘So, this is why Max always disappears at meal times,’ he says leaning against the counter. He picks up the sandwich closest to him and takes a large bite. ‘She had the nerve to call my mac and cheese dogshit today.’

The omega opens up the fridge to put back the ingredients. It was one of those fancy ones Billy saw in commercials, with an ice dispenser and a wine rack built in. It feels pathetic to be jealous of a stranger’s fridge.

‘Max is the easiest to feed. She once ate a whole jar of marshmallow fluff as a pre-dinner snack. Dustin on the other hand is a little princess,’ Steve says as he picks up the knife he licked and starts cutting the crusts off one of the sandwiches. ‘He only likes mayo on the top half and butter on the bottom, and if the two sides so much as touch he gets all bitchy.’

‘Which one is Max’s so I can spit in it?’ Billy asks between bites.

Steve shakes his head with a smile. ‘Well the one you’re eating is Lucas’.’

The alpha shoves the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. ‘Is that the one Max is… “dating”?’

‘You don’t have to use air quotes, they’ve been dating for like a year now,’ he laughs.

Billy scoffs. ‘That’s news to me. And they broke up a week ago so it doesn’t count. Apparently, he brought her a necklace like she’s some sort of fucking magpie.’ He runs a finger across the empty plate almost possessively. ‘Max is too good for him.’

With an amused smile Steve goes back to the fridge to re-make the stolen sandwich. The sound of the too fancy fridge closing is muffled by the pitter patter of feet. Suddenly a whole hoard of children invade the kitchen and the screaming intensifies. Some of their faces look familiar to Billy from various school drop offs but seeing them in their natural habitat was more that terrifying.

‘You’re only saying that because you’re jealous of my awesomeness!’ Dustin shouts, too deep into his conversation to register Billy’s presence.

‘Jealous of you!’ a gangly alpha kid snaps back, ‘without my last dice roll you’d be dead. It’s not my fault you called the banshee a bitch. I mean can you blame her, if I could I would have turned you into a frog years ago.’

A small meek looking beta boy smiles at the alpha kid, ‘As the party’s designated cleric, I would happily turn Dustin into a frog!’

_‘Fuck you, Will!’_

They start hurling insults at each other, each getting more absurd and personal until Steve shushes them all. They all start elbowing each other to grab a plate so the omega clears his throat. ‘Wait a second! God you’re like hungry wolves.’ Billy swears he hears one of the little twerps growl. ‘Okay so Mike’s mom didn’t have any salad or anything, so if your parents ask you all ate a balanced healthy meal, okay?’

Each one of them shout an enthusiastic agreement and after another long judgemental stare an eventual ‘thank you’ quickly follows.

Max quietly breaks away from the group to give Billy an apologetic smile but he just flips her off. The alpha snatches her plate and holds it above her head. ‘Your ass is grass when you get home,’ he whispers to her threateningly.

The redhead wrestles the plate back and sticks her tongue out like a toddler. She walks over to Lucas who patiently waits for Steve to finish his sandwich. Billy tries to glare at the small alpha as he causally slips his hand into Max’s, but by the time a growl reaches his lips the kids vanish as quickly as they appear.

In the wake of their destruction, Billy sits on one of the island stools. He watches the omega load the dishwasher, breath hitching every time he bends down. To distract himself Billy finally says, ‘so did you just bring me here to play sous chef or…?’

Steve turns around with a smile. ‘Well sous chefs actually help clean up so if I did you would have been fired by now.’

He turns back around to shelter himself from Billy’s grim expression, but the alpha still says, ‘I’m serious, Steve. You wanted to talk about it, so let’s talk about it.’

This time Steve doesn’t turn around. The dishes make fragile sounds as he slams them into the dishwasher. ‘I thought you didn’t want to talk because you’re mad at me or whatever.’

Billy puts his elbows on the counter and sighs. ‘I’m not mad at you.’

‘Then why have you been ignoring me?’ Steve retorts, turning around and throwing a dishtowel over his shoulder. If his voice wasn’t so serious Billy would laugh. The omega looked like a scolding mother with his hand on his hip, one frilly apron away from some sort of perverted fantasy.

A half-hearted excuse threatens to leave the alpha’s lips so instead he simply says, ‘I bumped into your girl Nancy.’

The fire behind Steve’s eyes lessens. He crosses his arms, oversized sweater slipping down one of his shoulders as he tightens his hold. ‘I know, she told me.’

Billy sits up straighter. ‘When were you talking to Nancy?’

Steve’s face creases with bewilderment, lips twitching into a smile after a confused pause. ‘Uh this is Nancy’s house, Mike is her brother.’ He points to the photo on the back wall that shows Nancy smiling sweetly as she hugs a grumpy looking kid and a crying toddler mid tantrum. Even in the chaos of the photograph, Nancy Wheeler is as composed as ever.

Then Billy starts surveying the rest of the room from the drawings on the fridge to the handmade mugs of the self. It feels somewhat perverse to see this side of Nancy, the cookie cutter suburban life decorated with all her baby photos and school awards.

After a long pause Billy crumples his nose. ‘This is Nancy Wheeler’s house? Does that mean…’ he jumps off the stool suddenly. ‘Wait is this the same kitchen where you walked in on her fucking some other guy?’

Steve blushes, smirks and winces all at the same time. ‘Uh, yeah?’

‘What the fuck Steve?!’ He shouts, pushing past the omega to wash his hands in the sink. ‘I can’t believe you let me eat a fucking sandwich off that counter.’

The omega has the audacity to laugh. ‘You’re such a baby,’ he jibes but hands Billy the dishtowel to dry himself anyway. ‘It was nearly two years ago, I’m pretty sure it’s been cleaned since.’

Billy gives Steve a judgemental look. ‘How can you stand here and make fucking sandwiches like her kept housewife? Doesn’t it bother you even looking at her smug face smiling down on you?’ He throws the wet towel onto the floor. ‘If I was you I’d never speak to her again.’

It’s a long time before Steve replies. He bends down and picks the discarded towel and hangs it up to dry. ‘She’s my friend.’

‘Didn’t seem very friendly at the party,’ the alpha grumbles.

Steve shakes his head with a smile. ‘Oh, I get it now, you’re jealous. That’s adorable.’

‘I’m not jealous! I just…’ he looks at Steve like he’ll somehow give him the answer. But the omega just stares back, waiting. ‘She hurt you so badly, how come you can just let it go?’

‘Because she told me she was sorry,’ Steve replies meekly. ‘She talked to me before she left, told me that she was sorry for everything.’

Billy shakes his head. ‘So people can hurt you all they like as long as they say sorry afterwards?’

‘Nancy didn’t mean to hurt me. She did something stupid but I know she didn’t mean it. It wasn’t like a telenovela where the spouse walks in on their mate screwing around with the maid, this was a quick end to a doomed relationship.’ The omega looks over at the large photograph of Nancy smiling. ‘We were never meant to be together. It’s not how I wanted it to end but sometimes you don’t get what you want.’

_“You’re the sort of alpha that gets what he wants, even if he has to take it,”_ Nancy’s voice repeats in the long silence. But Billy wants nothing more than to reach over and take Steve by the hand. He doesn’t though since Steve’s words ring truer because _“sometimes you don’t get what you want.”_

Billy pulls out the cigarette from behind his ear and steps away from the omega’s enticing scent. He walks over to the large hob and ignites it, leaning too close to the flame to light his cigarette.

He exhales loosely into the air. ‘We can’t keep doing this.’

‘Doing what?’ Steve asks, tone deliberately light to try and persuade Billy back on the path of light-hearted jokes and long lingering touches.

Billy gestures to the space between them with his cigarette. _‘This._ This whole fucking charade. You can’t just invite me over and make shitty small talk with me like nothing happened because… nothing happened.’

With the smoke in the air the room becomes hazy. Despite the summer season the room is poorly ventilated, too many photographs and tat on the windowsill to lighten the air. The fruit bowl on the island counter smells rotten.

Steve watches Billy watch the fruit flies. ‘I-I thought you liked me.’

‘I do like you, you know I do which is why you’re doing this.’ His tone takes on the alpha swagger of his past that falters only in the fact he can’t bring himself to look in Steve’s eyes.

The omega crosses his arms. ‘And what exactly am I doing?’

Beneath their feet the children start laughing hysterically. Their cheers turn into gasps as something falls, vibrating the floorboards beneath Billy’s feet. But soon enough they’re giggling again. It sounds like a laughter track.

The alpha doesn’t smile.

‘You’re fucking with my head. You kiss me and then don’t even acknowledge it. Then you approach me in your heat and then act like I’m controlling you, and then ask me to stay with you.’ He throws his arms up exhausted. ‘And then I kick the shit out of some guy and you tell me you like it. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore, so I give up.’

Steve flinches. ‘You think I’m playing a game with you?’

‘No. Maybe. I don’t know.’ He tries to posture, or turn away, or anything to save face. Instead he deflates, head bowed somewhat submissively. ‘It’s just… I really like you and apparently everyone knows it. Leading me on just fucks with my head.’

And just when Billy prepares himself for Steve to laugh in his face or throw something, the omega sits on the counter and says, ‘I went to the doctor.’

The words take a long time to echo.

Billy extinguishes his cigarette as he cautiously approaches the omega. ‘Oh my god,’ he stumbles, ‘are you okay? You’re not like… dying are you?’

A smile twitches in the corner of Steve’s mouth. ‘No you idiot. It was about my surprise heat.’ He sifts so his backside sits more comfortably on the marble counter. ‘They said that sometimes heats can get brought on by exposure, that apparently my body was overwhelmed by hormones like oxytocin… or something like that.’

‘What does that mean?’ The alpha asks, slipping subconsciously into the space between Steve’s legs.

‘It means the primal omega part of my brain recognised you as a potential mate,’ he explains simply, ‘so my body went into heat hoping you’d fuck me against the closest flat service.’ Steve taps the countertop and smiles and Billy’s hopeless expression.

The alpha gulps, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the flare of arousal that fills the space between them. His composure is slipping with every exhale that sends a shiver down his spine. Billy doesn’t move closer, but he can’t bring himself to pull away.

‘It’s biology,’ Steve comments, running a challenging finger along Billy’s bicep. He halts at the crook of his elbow, letting the alpha finally exhale.

But just as soon as he stops, Steve’s other hand extends lower, fiddling with the old receipts in his jean pocket. He’s threatening pleasure, using his fingertips to rewrite boundaries. When he leans closer to trace the growing tightens in Billy’s underwear he finally continues.

‘But when you get all protective defending my honour to half of Hawkins or tell me shitty jokes on the drive home just to make me smile or hell even when you eat my ice cream even though your lactose intolerant, that’s real.’ His other hand cups Billy’s cheek and pulls him closer, too close. ‘The omega part of my brain might want you to fuck me, but the totally civilised Steve part of my brain wants you to stop acting like an idiot and kiss me already.’

So Billy does. He presses his mouth against Steve with an almost despairing conviction, revelling at the way the omega submits into the kiss.

The alpha had dreamed of Steve’s lips every night since they last kissed, tried to remember the way he tasted and felt beneath his shaking fingers. In his head it was always a flurry of heart-swelling kisses like a romantic comedy with a soft rock song playing distantly in the background. But the real kiss was primal, desperate. There was no holding and yielding, just hair-pulling and grasping hands. Billy kisses like he’s trying to prise the omega apart, steadying Steve with strong arms as if to mould him, makes a space for himself between his thighs.

Another crash sounds out beneath their feet as Steve wraps a leg around Billy’s hips, dragging him closer and holding on. The alpha ruts against him, breath hitching as Steve rubs his clothed erection with his thigh.

Then it's too much, too close, too desperate. The air smells heavy with Steve’s slick and the primal urge to consummate whatever relationship they had started. Steve’s fingers start unzipping his jeans, trying to burrow inside with pleading eyes.

Billy pulls back suddenly and presses his lips to the omega’s cheek, mumbling the words into his flushed skin. ‘And then what happens after that?’

The brunette blinks almost drunkenly. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Let’s say right now I fuck you on the kitchen counter,’ he swallows Steve’s needy moan with a quick kiss, moving his lips to the shell of his ear, ‘or I throw you over my shoulder and take you back to my place so we can do everything we’ve both been wanting to for months.’ He levels his stare, ‘then what?’

‘Then we do it again?’ Steve laughs as he rolls his head back, holding the back of Billy’s head so his words send vibrations against his scent gland. He moans as the kisses slow, fingers pulling desperately on the blonde curls.

‘After that.’ Billy pulls back and takes in the beautiful sight beneath him, Steve spread out and moaning, slick staining his jeans and sweater pulled up slightly to reveal blushing skin. He kisses the omega once more briefly on his swollen lips. ‘Are you still going to flirt with me at work? Let me drive you home and make me listen to your shit music? Kiss me in the bathroom?’ He runs a fleeting finger along Steve’s scent gland. ‘Are we just going to mess around in someone’s kitchen like a bunch of horny high schoolers and then go our separate ways?’

Finally the omega stops pulling, dropping his hands onto the cold marble surface, eyes sobering at the sight of Billy’s anxious expression. ‘What you want to wine and dine me first?’ Steve mocks, hair askew and eyes wild. ‘Huh, you want to pull my chair out? Check if our star signs are compatible?’

Billy looks down at him and his heart eats itself out his chest. So he smiles back and says, ‘I want to do everything with you.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the angst and jumpiness of this chapter but it was necessary for the rest of the story which I ACTUALLY have planned now. No more pulling plot points out my ass and forgetting about them, I should officially bring this muddled story to a close in around 3/4 chapters. So excited to actually write some romance instead of blue balling you all!
> 
> Thank you so much for being so amazing and supportive, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!


	6. Going Overboard

Billy was rudely awoken at two in the morning by a text from Steve that read: _“Got the day off so pick me up from my house at nine. And don’t be late!”_ The alpha blinked sleepily at his screen before his question got answered for him. _“For our date,”_ the next message clarifies. The thought bubble pops up and down repeatedly until finally the next text reads. _“Looking forward to the romantic Hargrove treatment ;)”_

He falls back asleep with a smile before his alarm reawakens him for work. Every part of his body rejects the morning sun so he crawls into the cocoon of his bed sheets. He picks up his phone to check the time but his focus zones in solely on Steve’s new text.

_“I can’t wait to see you xxx”_

It was sent an hour after the first string of messages. Billy could picture the omega lying on his bed backspacing and rewriting the kisses while biting his lip. At least they were both losing sleep over each other, Billy thinks with a smirk. With a lack of energy but a new-found excitement, he gains the strength to get out of bed.

Still Billy picks up his shaver instead of his toothbrush and only notices after he cuts his tongue. His morning orange juice tasted mostly of metal and stung as he swallowed it.

He watches Max pick all the marshmallows from the cereal box across the table. The omega stacks them up with a morbid fascination.

Billy settles for her stale leftovers.

‘Are you okay, Billy?’ Susan asks convened.

‘Yeah I’m just… tired.’ He pours the remaining lacto-free milk into his bowl and throws the empty carton expertly into the trash.

‘Hey, that’s supposed to be recycled!’ Max scolds.

Billy snorts. ‘I think the polar bears will forgive me for that amazing slam dunk.’

The redhead huffs and waltzes over to sort through the trash. Billy watches with an amused expression as Susan places a cup of black coffee in front of him.

‘You look like you need it,’ she adds with a wink. The irony is magnified by the dark circles under her eyes and her bangs curled into the shape of her pillow. She sits down with a sigh, nursing her own coffee.

Billy matches her tired smile. ‘Do you want milk? Sugar?’

She debates getting to her feet again but dismisses her pride with a thankful, ‘yes please!’

Max is still elbow deep in trash. She’s wearing her dressing gown but still looked freshly showered and made up. If it wasn’t for the fact she was mimicking a rabid racoon, the omega would almost look dressed up.

‘Aha!’ She cries as she pulls out the milk carton. Confidently she attempts to throw it into the recycling bag but it bounces out and skids across the floor.

Billy hides his laugh by opening the fridge door.

‘Uh, there’s no more milk,’ he says to the empty fridge. The only contents that hear him are a few spoiled eggs and old sauce bottles that seem to match his lack of enthusiasm for the day.

Susan chokes on her too bitter coffee. ‘Oh god groceries! I was supposed to go to the store after work but-’

‘Don’t worry about it.’ He closes the fridge and sits back down.

Max dries her freshly washed hands on her dressing gown and stares at her dry bowl of cereal. Billy looks down at his full bowl and pushes it over to the omega, rolling his eyes as she pours her marshmallows into his bowl and eats away.

He looks over at Susan’s mournful expression. ‘Look… if you need some more money-’

‘Stop it! You do far too much already.’ She drops her tone and gives him her hand. ‘You should be spending your money on you. I thought you were saving up to go back to California.’

Billy’s whole body stills. ‘…That was before.’

Max’s guzzles slow, turning her interest to the pastel swirl in the milk.

Susan doesn’t let of his hand. ‘Either way you shouldn’t be spending your money on groceries.’

‘But I eat the groceries,’ Billy attempts but Susan cuts him off with a laugh.

‘Technically _Maxine_ eats most the groceries.’

‘Hey!’ The omega protests but a marshmallow flies out of her mouth at the same time making her point moot.

Susan downs the rest of her coffee and puts on her shoes, wincing slightly as they rub against her blisters. ‘Well I’m working tonight so I’ll leave some money for pizza,’ she places fifteen dollars on the table and grabs Billy’s cheek, ‘enough for _both_ of you.’

Max smiles against her spoon, words lost in the wet crunching of her mouth. ‘Thanks mom! Oh, and El’s sleeping over tonight because her TV doesn’t get _The Bachelor_ and it’s the final rose ceremony!’

‘That’ll be nice! I know El’s a fussy eater, so I’ll leave another…’ She rummages in her purse again. After a few moments she groans and starts sorting through coins.

Billy picks up the fifteen dollars. ‘It’s fine really, Susan. I’m going out tonight, so it’ll just be Max and El.’

The beta looks unsure, ‘Out? Where are you going?’

Billy’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head. He rakes his brain for his common excuses, something along the lines of _“just meeting up with some friends”_ or _“doing chill legal things like reading the bible and voluntary work.”_

But instead Max says the truth in a teasing musical tone. ‘Billy’s got a date~’

‘Shut up!’ The alpha snaps childishly. Before he can attempt to diffuse the conversation, Susan lets out an excited chirp.

‘A date!? Like an actual date? As in, you and someone else are going out _together_ to do something romantic?’

Billy buries his head in his hands. ‘Jesus, don’t sound so surprised.’

‘I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just… a date is a pretty big thing, a new thing.’ Susan sits down. ‘What are they like?’

As she sits down Billy stands up. ‘My love life is not a healthy substitute for your rom-com craving, okay? I’ve got to get to work.’

Just as he thinks she’s going to drop it Susan squeals ‘Love life!? Oh my god! What are you going to do? Is it something romantic! I remember my first date with my high school boyfriend, it was amazing. He invited me over for dinner and I’ll never forget it, he cooked spaghetti bolognaise which was my favourite meal. Although he wasn’t a very good cook so the pasta was still hard in the middle and I’m pretty sure the mince would have given me food poisoning. But he worked so hard on it so I just hid every mouthful under my napkin.’ Her eyes light up with romance. ‘It was perfect, he decorated the table-’

‘-with cherry scented candles and he brought out the nice silverware, I felt like a princess,’ Max finishes in perfect unison. The story sounding like a haunting echo chamber made up with over dramatic glee and a disillusioned groan.

Susan flicks Max’s nose with a huff and crosses her arms.

Still the omega continues mocking her, ‘and little did I know that nine months later I’d give birth to a beautiful baby girl and my oh so loving childhood sweetheart would break up with me during prom.’

Billy tries to slowly back away.

Void of anger Susan simply huffs, ‘it sounds a whole lot less romantic when you say it like that.’

Max gets up and hugs her mom in apology. ‘That’s why we watch _The Bachelor,_ to make up for how unromantic our lives actually are.’

Susan laughs. ‘So, where are you going tonight?’

‘I’m not telling you because I don’t want you two turning up with moustaches drawn on!’ He says. The truth was he hadn’t actually thought about where to take Steve. Sure, he loved the idea of being romantic and wowing the omega, but the reality was a lot less promising than the fantasy. The alpha was hoping he’d take a small detour on the way to work to search for somewhere, anywhere, mildly romantic enough for a first date.

‘At least tell me their name?’ Susan pleads. It was times like this where Billy became starkly aware of how much Max was like her mother.

He tries to channel his almost ever-present annoyance at his sister as he says, ‘no way.’

As if to prove a point the actual Max screams ‘It’s Steve!’

‘Steve!’ Susan harmonises dreamily, ‘what’s he like?’

Max halters. ‘It’s Steve mom. You know Steve.’

She blinks.

‘Like _Steve_ Steve? Steve Harrington?’ the redhead continues, tone growing annoyed with every second. ‘You’ve met him like a hundred times!’

Susan blinks again, like a fish in a bowl. ‘I’m bad with names, Maxine, you know this. And faces, I’m bad at those too.’

‘Steve!’ The omega screams. ‘Kind of tall, obsessed with his hair? Like one of the only male omegas in town?’

An unpromising amount of time passes before she finally jumps up in excitement and shouts, ‘Oh Steve! He’s the handsome boy that works at the ice cream parlour.’ She holds her flushed cheeks with joy. ‘I love him, he’s always so friendly!’

Billy lets out a small laugh at the thought of Susan making small talk with Steve in his sailor costume.

Max however isn’t even the slightest bit amused. ‘Mom you’ve met him like a million times! He’s always picked me up from school whenever Billy couldn’t be bothered. You chaperoned the dance with him for a full three hours, but the ice cream parlour is the only place you remember him from!?!’ She throws up her hands exasperated, ‘you are hopeless.’

Susan gasps in surprise. ‘Excuse me, young lady-’

‘Alright I’m going to work!’ Billy announces, shovelling a final handful of dry cereal into his mouth as he walks away.

Max runs after him as he reaches the front door. ‘Wait! Let me just get changed.’

The alpha blinks down at her. ‘Uh… why?’

‘Because you’re giving me a ride to the mall,’ comes his reply, shouted from her bedroom door between shuffling.

‘Uh…. Why?’

‘Because I need to go to the mall.’

‘Uh… w-’

Max throws open her bedroom door fully changed, ‘because I have a date!’

The alpha opens and closes his mouth. He tries to wrap his sleep deprived brain around her demands but ends up short circuiting. Max rolls her eyes at him and grabs her bag. She’s wearing a dress, a pretty summer dress that Susan doesn’t let her wear because it was dry clean only.

She looked… pretty. It was unnerving.

‘Lucas is meeting me at the cinema soon so hurry the hell up!’ She throws open the front door and matches towards his car.

Billy scoffs and closes the door behind him. ‘Lucas is taking you on a date to the cinema? That’s so lame. What are you going to do? Hold hands in the popcorn and sit in the back row?’

The omega growls at him. ‘At least my boyfriend makes plans? Where is it you’re taking Steve again? Oh, that’s right, _nowhere.’_

He lets out a sound of protest but doesn’t follow up with a comeback. Billy decides inspiration will have to strike him during his lunch break.

* * *

Lunch brings no such clarity.

Robin’s dirty sneakers are on the table, barley balancing her weight as she leans back dangerously on the cheap plastic chair. A diverse selection of fast food wrappers however would cushion her landing if she was to fall. And if things were to continue the way they were, Billy might be the one to push her.

‘Bowling?’ He attempts again. The unflattering artificial lights of the food court were making his bloodshot eyes looking even more exhausted than his tone.

The omega shakes her head. ‘Nah. Steve’s super self-conscious about his foot size. I have a theory that he’s part tetradactyl.’

Billy slams his head on the sticky table and groans. ‘Then I give up. I’ll just cancel and scream into my pillow.’

‘I mean you could turn up and make Steve scream into his pillow,’ she snorts, ‘I’m pretty sure he’s ready to skip every base and go straight for a home run.’

He debates throwing his untouched lunch at her but thinks better of it. ‘We’ve been dancing around this for months now, I just want to make sure we do this right.’ Glumly he reaches over and eats one of her discarded fries. It turns to glue in his mouth, cold and soggy. Still he swallows it. ‘I want to do something romantic for once in my life.’

Robin burps. ‘I don’t know why the hell you’re asking me. I’m the least romantic person in the universe.’

The alpha follows her gaze to the _Jamba Juice_ stand where Tammy pretends to organise the cups in size order. An unspoken uneasiness sours the air as Robin’s stare hardens, catching Billy in the crossfire of active passive aggression.

‘Uh, I take it things aren’t going well in paradise then?’ Billy winces.

She takes a big inhale to prepare him for one of her infamous rants, so the alpha grabs his soda and sits back to prepare himself.

‘Well I thought things were going great! We were making out and Megan Fox movies which is the gayest thing two girls can do, right? _Apparently not!’_ Robin screams just loud enough to annoy everyone, but quiet enough not so Tammy can’t hear. ‘She says she has a surprise for me so naturally, I get very excited. But then there’s a knock at her door. And who is at the door?’

Billy flusters, unsure if the question was rhetorical.

It was. ‘Her motherfucking alpha boyfriend.’

A family enjoying their happy meals tut under their breath. The mother looks disappointed at Billy as she drags her child away.

‘Shit,’ he tells the crazy eyed omega as she starts banging her head into the table.

After getting a mildly severe concussion, Robin sits back up. ‘Like I get that we weren’t exclusive or whatever but… that was a pretty bitchy move right?’ She rubs her eyes making the mascara smudge around her face. ‘Guess it’s my fault though. I was stupid enough to think someone like her could like someone like me.’

‘Uh…’ The alpha looks around for backup. He half hopes the mom from earlier will reappear and cradle the distraught omega in her arms so Billy can relax.

When no one appears he sighs, reaching towards her to pat her arm awkwardly.

‘It’s a shitty situation. Like really shitty.’ To soothe her further he picks up a cold fry and feeds it to her like a zoo animal. ‘It sucks that she’s dating some other guy but there was nothing you could have done. Don’t beat yourself up about it. She found her own happiness and so will you. In the future… but not like super far away. Hopefully you don’t die alone.’

Despite herself, Robin smiles. ‘That was pretty philosophical, Hargrove. You’re getting soft.’

‘Fuck you!’

Crawling out of her existential dread, the omega eats another handful of fries. ‘I think I’ve started to internalise your assholeiness. Like I used to be so level headed and sweet. But as soon as Tammy told me I just freaked out and called her stupid.’

‘Pretty sure you can’t blame that on me,’ he defends, ‘freaking out and throwing a tantrum is a thousand percent a classic Robin move.’

She leans forward with her elbows on the table. It would look intimidating if it wasn’t for the squished potato on her arm. ‘Don’t act like your better than me. You would have done the same, hell you would have done _way_ worse.’

This is the moment in the film where the musical score would cut off to dramatize the ridiculous plot twist no one could have seen coming. Robin drags the silence out far longer than necessary.

‘Because her new boyfriend is none other than,’ she takes a sip out of her soda for effect, ‘Tommy.’

Billy does a spit take. _‘Tommy_ Tommy?!’

‘Yep.’ While satisfied with the drama, Robin still throws her arms dup exasperated. ‘I mean leave me for some alpha is annoying enough. But to go form this-’ she points to herself as if to accentuate her features. Said features were a face of ruined makeup, food covered limbs, and a sailor costume that was buttoned up wrong. ‘-to the most evil piece of shit alpha asshole in the tri-state area is blasphemy! I told her everything, his reputation, what he did to Steve, what you did to him, but she just called me jealous.’

The alpha almost disassociates from the horror of the sight.

‘Me jealous?! _Uhm I don’t fucking think so,’_ she screams, spilling her drink all over herself.

This Tammy does hear, and see, and fear. The omega turns the closed sign over and puts all her energy into selling warm smoothies.

Billy looks to the clock and realises it was time to get back to work. He grabs a napkin and starts wiping Robin down. ‘Uh, are you going to be okay?’

She jumps back into the present and surveys herself with disdain. ‘…I’m a fucking disaster.’

‘I’m not going to disagree but if you…’ he tries to offer a way to fix her up or another rousing philosophical speech but his mind comes up empty.

‘It’s fine,’ she offers self-deprecatingly, ‘to be honest this is very on brand for me. I’ll just own it.’ The sailor clad omega stands up proudly, ‘I’ve looked worse.’

Billy hugs her even though he knows the stains will rub off on him. ‘Again, I’m not arguing with that but… If you need to talk to anyone you can call me.’ He squeezes her tightly making her burp. ‘Actually, scratch that if you want to talk ring Steve, if you want to egg Tammy’s house, give me a call.’

The omega squeezes him back. ‘I love you, asshole.’ Slowly she unravels herself and straightens her hat in vein. ‘Have fun on your date tonight, don’t fuck it up.’

‘I’ll try not to.’

He watches Robin waltz back over to _Scoops Ahoy_ , the crowd parting for her in fear. The alpha shakes his head and goes back to work.

As he returns to _Jolly Rogers_ he reluctantly puts his pirate hat and eyepatch back on. He slides back behind the bar and gets to work on the already overflowing pile of drink orders. The first one is obnoxious enough, a diet coke with crushed ice and cherries along with a plain full fat soda. Billy rolls his eyes.

Before he can spit in the drink his eyes catch a flash of red in the corner of his eye.

Across the restaurant Max is sitting down and giggling at Lucas over a menu. Billy can’t hear what the boy said that was so funny but he does know it was making the redhead look like at him like gooey eyed rom-com heroine.

The alpha glares at the sight before Barb appears. He grabs her arm as she picks up the tray of drinks. ‘Hey, can you do me a favour?’

The beta shakes him off, drinks chattering as she throws a scowl over her shoulder. ‘I’m not doing anything for you, asshole.’

Billy rolls his eyes and reaches out for her at the same time. ‘Come on Barb, you can’t still be mad at me.’

‘Of course I can!’ She slams the tray of drinks onto the bar, spilling them. ‘You abandoned me for a whole shift with no warning. I had to work double for _four hours_ until your cover showed up. So not only did I have to work unpaid overtime but I had to cancel all my plans for the day which- news flash Billy, I do have a life outside of this shitty job. But then I find out that when you finally decided to come back and do your damn job you called my best friend a bitch and screamed at her in public!’

In the wake of her words Billy blinks. A childish part of him wants to argue back but the fury behind her eyes just makes him swallow.

He cleans the spill on the bar with a dirty rag and starts remaking the drinks. ‘Look I said I’m sorry like a hundred times. Please can you just do me one favour?’ He points across the restaurant to Max twizzling her hair around her finger with a dopey smile. ‘You see that booth at the back?’

‘Yes,’ Barb drones, following his line of sight.

‘That’s my sister and she’s on a date with this kid and I really don’t like the way he’s looking at her. He keeps making all these faces right, but I don’t know what he’s saying.’

The beta tilts her head with a smile urging on a smirk. ‘That’s your sister? But she’s so cute and little.’

‘She’s a monster,’ Billy assures, ‘but she’s just a kid so I need you to go over there and tell me what he’s saying to her. I don’t want him trying anything.’

Barb exaggerates her sigh. She flickers her gaze between Billy and the booth with amination, rubbing her chin like a pondering detective. Finally, she turns fully towards the alpha. ‘Fine, I’ll do it.’

‘Really?!’ Billy cries with a grin.

She taps the bar. ‘For twenty dollars.’

‘Twenty dollars! It’s literally your job to wait on their table. I’m just asking you to tell me what they’re talking about.’

Barb holds her hands up. ‘Yeah but it’s worker customer confidentiality.’  
With a growl Billy slams the re-made drinks onto the sticky tray. ‘You’re a waitress not a secret agent.’

‘Oh, what was that?’ She holds her ear as if searching for the smallest of sounds. ‘Looks like the price just went up to _thirty_ dollars.’

‘Twenty dollars,’ Billy barters without patience.

‘Twenty-five.’

‘How about I give you twenty dollars and I don’t tell the boss you were the one who changed the temperature in the freezer,’ the alpha seethes, ‘he rode my ass for a week about that.’

Barb smiles and offers her hand, ‘deal!’

They shake on it, passing the money between their hands.

As incognito as a woman dressed as a pirate in the middle of the day could be, Barb serves the booth beside Max and not so subtly leans into their conversation. As the father at the table reaches to pick up his drink from the tray Barb moves back and starts to pace back and forth in front of the booths. Every time she walks past he reaches for his beer again, but Barb dismisses him with a frown as she takes in the private conversation of the huddled teenage couple. After a few minutes and certainty a decreased tip, the waitress struts back over to Billy.

‘What were they talking about?’ The alpha interrogates leaning across the bar as Barb pauses for effect.

‘I don’t know,’ she finishes finally.

‘Give me my twenty dollars back!’ Billy sighs, watching Max nod her head intently at the alpha across from her.

Barb hides the twenty dollar note in her bra protectively. ‘No! I mean they’re talking about some nerdy movie… something about demidogs?’

Max reaches her hand across the table and toys with the boy’s fingertips, whispering something into his ear.

Billy growls. ‘You think that’s like code for something? You know like… dogging?’

‘I think it’s code for your sister’s boyfriend is a nerd.’ She joins him in watching the couple. ‘He told her he was going to pay, she got all defensive about it.’

He snorts. ‘I gave her twenty dollars, I’ve been extorted twice today.’

Their boss appears from the safety of his office to survey the chaos of the restaurant. Like a busy idiot he rearranges the tacky ocean tat on the shelf before disappearing again with a satisfied smile on his face.

‘Sinclair’s a good kid,’ Barb comments out of nowhere.

‘Sinclair?’

‘Yeah, Lucas Sinclair,’ she points at the young alpha who lets Max cherry pick the crispiest fries from his plate. ‘His dad’s a doctor,’ Barb continues like an intel agent from a spy movie, ‘his whole family is super well liked. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your sister will marry into a rich family, maybe then you could quit your shitty job and ride her coat tails.’

‘It’s your shitty job too,’ Billy retorts as he flicks her parrot. ‘Plus, Max can make her own money, she’s really smart.’ He boasts his shoulders. ‘They’re even talking about her doing college level classes for science. Pretty sure she’s got a higher reading age than me.’

Barb shakes her head at him. ‘I never thought I’d see the day where Billy Hargrove would act like a proud mother hen.’

‘Fuck you,’ Billy defends but his cheeks flush a brilliant shade of pink.

‘Besides you’re already going to marry Harrington right?’ She teases, ‘you can be the gold digger of the family!’

‘You’re so fucking hilarious!’ the alpha lets out a low sarcastic laugh, ‘maybe you should quit your shitty job and become a fucking comedian.’

‘Maybe I will!’ The beta sticks her tongue out. ‘You actually getting together with Harrington will be the best punchline ever.’

‘Well it’s no joke, I’m taking him on a date after work.

Her laughs stumbles into a cough. The alpha makes a very conscious decision not to offer her a glass of water as she heaves across the once clean bar. ‘Are you serious?’ she finally breaths out.

‘Yep. All that “staring at him and licking my lips” finally paid off,’ he counters, tone urging her to apologise.

But the beta just groans. ‘I did not say that.’ It most definitely wasn’t an apology for gossiping about Billy’s crush to Nancy, but it was as close as their combined stubbornness would allow. After a moment she looks at him, tone void of performance. ‘I’m happy for you, really. Maybe now you’ll stop being such an asshole.’

Billy flicks her parrot again. ‘Wouldn’t count on it.’

Barb pulls his eye-patch back and lets it go, the elastic making a harsh sound and it slaps his skin. The alpha lets out a cry making the whole restaurant, including a very annoyed looking Max, to look over to the bar where Billy growls and Barb bursts into hysterics. In apology the beta picks up a glass of ice from the bar and presses it to his face. With a grumble the alpha accepts, and the restaurant continues back into chaos.

‘So, where you going on your hot date?’ Barb asks.

He moves his eye-patch to his other eye as he nurses the red welt on his face. ‘I have no idea. I’ve been racking my brain all day to think of something nice to do in this shithole town.’

‘Why don’t you just ask him what he wants to do?’ Barb says simply.

‘That all you got?’ he asks the distorted image of the beta through the glass. ‘I thought you could give me some inspiration. I mean you knew what he liked to do when him and Nancy dated.’

Barb winces. ‘I’d steer clear of anything he did with Nancy.’

Billy moves the glass away from his eye so he can look at clearly. ‘What did they even used to do together? They seem like complete opposites.’

‘They were.’ She leans over and takes the eye patch off fully. ‘It was mostly typical date nights. Nancy wanted to seem as normal as possible and Harrington would just do whatever she wanted. I think the most exciting thing they did was when it was Nancy’s rut and-’ she catches herself, ‘wait I really shouldn’t be telling you this.’

‘Yeah now I think about it I don’t want to vomit.’ Billy takes a sup of the melted ice from the glass. ‘Maybe you’re right, maybe I should just ask Steve what he wants to do. Easy and breezy.’

‘You couldn’t be easy or breezy if you tried, you’re too busy licking your lips,’ she winks.

Billy leans over and pulls the plush parrot from her shoulder. ‘Fuck you.’

She snatches the bird back and shoves it into the glass of ice. ‘You know what I’ve actually kind of missed you, asshole.’

‘I’ve missed you too, sea wench.’

* * *

While getting ready for the date Billy realises he’d ran out of cologne so decided to spray lemon scented disinfectant spray on his neck in substitute. As he reached for his car keys a bright red rash started burning on his skin. Two showers and a lot of curse words later, the alpha finally pulled up outside Steve’s house smelling like uninterrupted anxiety.

He sits in silence. Billy had never been on a date before. Sure, he’d gone to loads of parties and bars with past hook ups, but a one-to-one intimate setting made his stomach churn. Was he supposed to bring flowers? Was he too underdressed?

Fearing his own solitude, the alpha lights up a cigarette and exists the car ready to ring the doorbell.

Instead he bumps into Steve who’s grinning at him and shaking his head. Billy’s jaw drops at the sight of the omega’s too tight skinny jeans and thin dress shirt. He looks like the perfect balance between stunning and “I woke up like this.”

‘You look…’ _amazing,_ his instincts finish for him, _absolutely drop dead kick me in the dick fantastic._ But his better brain finishes: ‘good. You look… good.’

Steve’s blush floods his cheeks and drips down to his knees that quiver slightly in the emerging fall air. ‘Thanks. You look good too.’

The space around them speaks volumes. Billy relives every emotion on the driveway: the longing, the nervousness, the clarity. His instincts are saying “this is what you’ve been waiting for.” And he has.

He waits even longer to find the right way to phrase it, but all his pride will let him say is:

‘I mean the sailor costume is still my favourite, but this is good too.’

Steve laughs. ‘It’s honestly kind of soul crushing. I’ve been so hung up on the fantasy of you being a hot pirate that seeing you like this is really fucking with me. It’s like going to Disneyland and seeing Mickey Mouse with his head off smoking a cigarette.’

The alpha drops his cigarette on instinct but it only makes the brunette laugh harder.

‘Sorry I ruined your fantasy.’

‘It’s okay,’ Steve smiles, ‘the reality is pretty exciting too. I’ve been low key stressed out wondering about where your taking me.’ He flutters his eyelashes unconvincingly, ‘my daddy warned me about getting into cars with strange alphas.’

Billy gasps. ‘Is there no one around to rescue you from the awful fate of going on a date with me?’

The crickets answer for him as Steve pretends to search the night. ‘Guess I’m stuck with you then,’ he winks. ‘So where are we going exactly?’

Suddenly the pit of doubt in the alpha’s stomach swells. ‘Uh, about that I… I thought you could decide?’

Steve’s brow creases slightly so Billy interrupts himself hurriedly.

‘It’s just that I knew it was going to be late and there’s surprisingly fuck all to do in this town. Like I genuinely thought you were exaggerating but apart from the mall there is literally nothing here. Then I thought about maybe something there, but we literally spend the majority of our lives stuck in that shit hole so it’s not really romantic. Plus, Robin made it out like you were really picky- which again I’m not saying you are! It’s just…’ Becoming lightheaded, the alpha takes a much-needed breath. He drops his head. ‘I just wanted to do something nice but… turns out I’m not so great at doing nice things.’

He doesn’t dare look up from the ground to read the omega’s expression. Instead he watches Steve’s legs shuffle slightly before he bends down to meet his gaze.

‘You’re such an idiot,’ Steve laughs warmly. ‘I’d literally enjoy slinging pig shit at Merrill’s farm if you were with me. Chill out.’

Billy straightens himself with a huff, a smile twitching on his cheek. ‘I am chill.’

Steve just rolls his eyes. In the emerging moonlight he looks so soft. His hair is bouncier than ever, framing his mole dotted skin and long pale neck. Everything about the sight sings angelic but his mischievous smirk.

The omega bites his lip trying to hide his intentions. ‘So… I can choose anything?’

Billy gulps. ‘Uh… within reason.’

Before he can register the movement Steve steps towards him and buries his hand in his front pocket. His sex-depraved mind barely supresses a howl as the omega’s touch grazes his crotch as he wriggles around. Slowly Billy’s more logical mind cuts through, but still scratches its head about the excitement of the omega.

Then Steve pulls out his car keys. ‘So, I can drive your car then?’

‘W-what?!’ Forgetting all the rules of chivalry Billy snatches his keys back. ‘No way!’

‘You said I could do anything I wanted,’ the omega pouts, ‘and I want to drive your car.’

The very possible future of ending their first date in a hospital, or worse a car repair shop flashes through Billy’s mind. ‘Do you even know how to drive?’

‘Of course I do!’ He takes back the key and swings it around his finger as if it was supposed to prove his point.

‘Seriously? I’m not talking about bobbing around a Walmart car park at two in the morning. Like actual licenced driving? On a road?’

A look of genuine offence flashes briefly across Steve’s face. ‘I’ll have you know I am an amazing driver!’ Still the alpha looks unconvinced, so the omega pulls out his licence. It was out of date by just over a year but looked legitimate. He gazes mournfully into the distance. ‘I used to have this gorgeous vintage BMW, maroon finish, leather seats. She was beautiful.’

Billy looks up from Steve’s annoyingly attractive license picture to the real deal. ‘She?’

‘Cars are like boats, they’re all she’s. I got her for my fifteenth birthday.’

‘Your daddy brought you a car for your birthday?’ Billy teases.

Steve raises an eyebrow. ‘Yeah. But I made her a woman.’

Needing no further encouragement the omega unlocks the vehicle and crawls inside. Billy watches with an amused foreboding as he caresses the steering wheel and squeals excitedly at all the buttons on the dashboard. When he turns the window wipers on the alpha throws open the passenger door with a yelp.

‘Careful!’ He scolds.

Steve rolls his eyes. ‘I know how to treat a lady, Hargrove.’

The window wipers turn off as the radio blares to life, a cacophony of chaos filling the car’s interior. Billy tries to level himself and relax into the other boy’s presence but it takes all his strength not to push Steve out of the driver’s seat. ‘If you’re such a great driver why don’t you take your own ass to work?’

Silence replaces the distorted version of “Baby Got Back” from his ancient radio.

‘Because my daddy found an open box of condoms in my room a month later and got her crushed,’ he plainly states.

Billy’s smile drops. He sinks further into the passenger seat.

In the conversational shift Steve reaches back inside his wallet to pull out a piece of dull metal. ‘He even gave me this as a reminder to keep my legs closed.’

The light from the car highlights every impurity in the metal, every sharp edge and crease distort Billy’s reflection back at him. Cautiously he picks it up from Steve’s palm and inspects it closer. ‘T-This is your car?’

‘What’s left of it.’ Steve looks unfazed by Billy’s horror. He takes back the piece of metal and carefully tucks it back into his wallet. ‘So, will you let me drive?’

Billy nods reluctantly, palm still out retched.

‘Sweet!’ The omega yells as he turns the key in the ignition. The engine roars to life to duet with his excited squealing. This goes on for an unhealthy amount of time until Steve timidly asks, ‘Which pedal is which? The clutch is the one on the right… right?’

Billy blinks, waiting for the punchline.

‘…So it’s the left one…?’

Still the alpha doesn’t speak so, trusting his better judgment, Steve slams his foot on the left pedal, pulls up the handbrake and starts barrelling down the hill. The car makes minimal sounds of protest but every groan from the engine sounds to Billy like a whimpered “please save me daddy.”

Either way they make it off Steve’s driveway physically sound but mentally scarred.

Steve treats the suburban streets like levels in a video game, one Mario power up from complete and utter destruction. He starts whistling as the animals race away from the tarmac.

Billy holds onto the door handle tightly.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ the omega suddenly announces.

His hold on the door handle strengthens. Fight or flight, hold on for dear life or jump onto the swift moving tarmac outside. Billy looks over perplexed, ‘Yeah, and what’s that?’

‘You think I’m a whore.’

Steve takes a sharp left turn, narrowly missing a mailbox.

‘W-What?!’ Billy cries to both events. ‘I don’t think that!’

The omega takes his eyes off the road. ‘I know fifteen is pretty young to lose your virginity but in my defence I started my heat years ago.’ A squirrel wonders into the road and without looking Steve swerves, not taking his casual gaze from Billy’s farrowed expression. ‘My parents were super strict so I couldn’t watch porn and sex education is Hawkins is _insanely_ awful.’

Busy streets turn into greenery around them. The light flickers around the omega to spotlight him. Billy takes a backseat.

‘Do you have any idea what it feels like for your body to be telling you that you need something that you don’t know exists?’ Steve smiles, voice void of judgment or embarrassment. ‘So I decided to find out what all the fuss was about.’

It was strange to imagine a freshly presented Steve. There was something about the omegas very being that radiated nonchalance, a quiet but secure confidence in himself and what he was capable of. That’s what Billy loved about him. Steve had a power to make every room feel like a set piece until he walked in.

The alpha smiles at the thought of the boy all knobbly knees and flushed cheeks. ‘And was it worth losing your car over?’

‘Fuck no!’ He snorts. ‘It lasted five seconds and then he fell asleep onto of me.’

‘That’s fucking hilarious!’ Billy barks into an ugly laughing.

Steve smiles at the sound. ‘And he snored.’

‘That’s got to be the saddest virginity story I have ever heard.’

The cars headlights don’t stretch out quite far enough. Steve treats the abyss like an old friend. ‘Then what’s your story?’

Billy holds his hands up in defence, finally letting go of the door handle. ‘I am so not-’

‘Come one!’ The omega whines, ‘First dates are about getting to know each other! Plus, I told you mine so it’s only fair.’

He watches Steve shift to third gear and gulps. ‘Fine. I was sixteen-’

‘-Sixteen! You can’t judge me, sixteen is only one year older than fifteen.’

‘Yeah but the maturity level is so much different!’

Steve snorts. ‘No, it’s not.’

‘Yes, it is!’ He argues declaratively. ‘My sister is nearly fifteen and she is _definitely_ not mature to have sex.’

There’s a challenge beside the statement that the omega prods at. He gives Billy a look before rolling his eyes. ‘Sure she’s not.’ He indicates even though no one else is around to watch him take an even more deserted path.

‘Where the hell are we going?’ Billy attempts but Steve quickly cuts him off.

‘Oh, you are so not getting out of this. Continue!’

The alpha groans, all thoughts of soft kisses and longing gazes leaving his head. Only Steve would use a date as a means of emotional warfare. ‘Fine. The girl next door invited me around her house because-’

‘Omega?’

‘No beta. And stop fucking interrupting,’ he snaps. Steve takes no offence but does silently give him the finger. ‘I sort of knew her before because I would cut her lawn and-’

‘And clean her pool?!’ Steve fills in with a laugh, ‘Are you sure this isn’t a porno?’

‘I lived in a shitty area, no one had pools like you do rich boy.’ Billy leans over the gear stick to flick the omega’s smirk. ‘And concentrate on the fucking road.’

Steve flicks him back and gestures at the vast nothingness around them. ‘It’s the middle of nowhere what the hell am I going to crash into?’

‘Well maybe after you murder me in the woods and steal my kidneys you might drive off a cliff or get my beautiful car ravaged by coyotes.’

‘You said we could do whatever I wanted!’ The omega argues back. It was at this moment that Billy realised what they’d become, an old married couple arguing in the car. ‘Besides I’m taking us to my favourite spot.’

‘To what? Murder people?’ Billy counters.

Steve takes his hands off the wheel but keeps accelerating, needing both hands to pretend to confront the alpha. While under attack, Billy reaches over to try and steady the wheel, Steve’s diaphragm vibrating beside him as he burst into hysterics.

‘You’re a fucking maniac,’ Billy says but it sounds suspiciously like “God, I love you.”

The car slows down and Steve finally puts his hands back on the wheel. They keep throwing each other side glances, both anticipating a rebuttal.

‘Anyway!’ Billy continues, ‘She had this crazy big crush on me. She would post these long notes to me all the time through my letterbox, poetry in sparkly ink and shit. One day she sent me this like formal invitation to come over and that we wouldn’t be interrupted because her mom was hosting this book club downstairs-’

‘You fucked her while her mom was downstairs!?!’ Steve screams horrified.

‘Actually, I fucked her mom while she was up upstairs.’

‘What?!’ The omega slams on the brakes. ‘That’s disgusting!’

Billy gasps. ‘I thought you were super against slut shaming.’

‘I am!’ Steve gasps louder. ‘This isn’t slut shaming, it’s like… _morality_ shaming. You had sex with a married woman!’

‘She was divorced! And she had kids young, she still had it.’ His brain forgets the context of the conversation, of present company as he shifts back to California. ‘She used to make eyes at me when I mowed their lawn. Plus, she gave me a giant Christmas bonus so…’

Instead of driving forward Steve turns off the engine. ‘That’s prostitution! You, Billy Hargrove, are a rent boy.’

They were now in complete darkness save the moonlight. If another car was to follow their nonsense path into the wilderness they’d surely be crushed, another pile of roadkill on the side of the road.

‘That girl, her _daughter_ , really liked you.’ The omega frowns. ‘I bet you broke her heart.’

Billy finds Steve through the warmth of his body. ‘It’s okay,’ he grins, tucking a lock of hair behind the omega’s ear. They lean closer, Steve’s eyes fluttering closed as he waits to be kissed. But Billy just moves his lips to the shell of his ear and turns on the engine. ‘I had sex with her the day after so it was all good.’

The lights from the dashboard perfectly punchline the omega’s scream as he slaps Billy’s arm with a huff. ‘You’re a fucking pig!’ Despite himself they both laugh, elbows the only sharp things as he climbs onto Billy’s lap in a loving tackle. ‘I thought I was going on a date with a gentleman.’

Accepting his defeat in both wit and brawn, Billy smiles up at the omega. He moves his lips in apology as he nips the omega’s neck, not strong enough to shift the mood but enough to make Steve moan. His voice is pure mischief as he whispers, ‘I never said I was a gentleman.’

‘You were pretty gentlemanly last time I saw you.’ Deliberately he sits down with more pressure, matching the other’s teasing touches. ‘What was it you said again: I want to do everything with you.’

Billy swallows a groan. ‘And does that everything involve calling me a rent boy and stealing my kidneys?’

The omega’s eyes sparkle. He leans over to the door handle still slightly damp from the alpha’s sweat and opens it. The night air invades the space between them. ‘I guess you’ll have to find out,’ he winks as he joins the darkness.

For a moment the alpha waits for him to return. His brain filters through every urban legend of couples stranded in the woods, all hooked hands and interrupted dry humping. In all fairness Billy’s lack of experience with dating often led him to make assumptions from pop culture. He knew it was common practice for an alpha to invite and omega to see a horror movie in hopes they’d get scared and jump into their arms.

But right now, Billy was shitting himself alone, and said omega was of galivanting in the night.

Plucking up whatever was left of his masculinity, the alpha reluctantly exits the safety of the car.

Instead of a murder scene he finds Steve silhouetted in the moonlight. The wind whips around them, free of the pollution from town and smelling like earth. It feels less like reality and more of an emotion. Billy feels his lungs clean with fresh forest air only for him to lose his breath to the sight of Steve in the clearing. In a daze he walks towards the only grounded sight.

In front of the omega is not a fairy-tale forest scene but a cliff edge.

‘What do you think?’ Steve asks.

The alpha joins him too close to the edge. ‘About the driving? Not bad. I accepted my death when you rounded the last corner, but we survived. I’d give you a C.’

It’s too dark to see, but Billy knows him well enough to sense an eyeroll. ‘I meant the view, asshole.’

Both of them turn to the reflection of the night sky in the water below. It looked too perfect, like a mirage that was always supposed to represent something. But Billy was never one for metaphors, so he settles on just admiring it for what it is.

Billy hated Hawkins. It was the perfect disaster, too small for anything good to happen but big enough to be an eye sore. He grew up in California where everything was golden tinted and scorching. If Hawkins was to be personified Billy swore it would be an aging grumpy man yelling at kids to get off his darn porch. But looking across at the midnight lit quarry gave Hawkins a sudden makeover.

Steve watches him marvel. ‘This is my favourite spot in town. I used to come here all the time when I was a kid, everyone did. But they corned it off a while back because all the parents were scared it was too dangerous. I think the police got tired of watching it after a while, just waiting for someone to fall in.’

A small rock falls into the quarry, and after an eternity a satisfying splash sounds in the air.

‘Is that what this is,’ Billy teases, ‘an excuse to push me in. I’d be Hawkins legend then.’

The omega drops another stone into the night. ‘Trust me, it’s not that much fun being Hawkins legend.’

Wordlessly Billy holds his hand. Together they sway in the breeze, loose enough hold to free the movement but strong enough to stay grounded.

The second stone plops into the water. The alpha looks over the edge of the quarry. ‘It doesn’t look that deep. I mean you could survive that fall.’

Steve looks at him horrified. ‘You’d so die! Hitting water from this high up is like hitting concrete. You’d splatter and then sink.’

‘I would not,’ the alpha rivals, ‘I’m an amazing swimmer. It’s all in the technique, you just have to make your body-’

‘-You’re so full of shit Billy Hargrove! Only an alpha would think he’s above gravity.’

‘Technically we’re all above gravity.’

‘Technically we’re all _below_ gravity,’ Steve finishes childishly. ‘You’d die a horrible death, end of discussion.’

In rebellion to the statement Billy takes another step closer to the edge. The omega screams like a banshee and pulls him back with all his strength.

Billy teethers on the edge. A part of the ground beneath his feet crumbles and falls into the darkness below him. He waits to time the sound of water splashing but the sound gets lost in Steve’s protests. ‘Stop it, Billy! It’s not funny, you idiot.’

One moderate gust of wind from falling off the edge, the alpha casually remarks. ‘Meh, it’s not that deep.’

Steve wraps his arms around him like a baby sloth. ‘Yes it is!’ He shouts as he pulls harder, nearly taking the alpha’s shoulder from its socket as he tugs. ‘Do you really want to be the reason they close down the quarry for good? How the hell am I supposed to explain to Hopper that I let you kill yourself over a stupid dick measuring contest?!’

Billy turns the tug into a hug. ‘But then I’d get to tell the press about how you heroically dived in after me.’ He chuckles into Steve’s clenched jaw. ‘Plus I’d get some heart starting sexy mouth to mouth to finish it off.’

Unsurprisingly the omega pushes him away, thankfully towards safe ground. ‘Well I can’t swim so good luck with that.’

‘Wait, you can’t swim?’ He goads, ‘Don’t you have a pool?’

Steve wraps his arms more self-consciously around himself. ‘Just because I have a pool doesn’t mean I can swim.’

The alpha brushes dust from his jacket with a smirk. ‘That is by far the most rich boy thing you have ever said.’

‘Well it’s not like my parents were around long enough to teach me how to swim,’ he counters with a dangerous stare.

‘Touché.’

Steve accepts the veiled apology and helps him off the ground. In an attempt to place enough distance between Billy and mortal danger, he settles for sitting on the hood of the Camaro. The alpha joins him lying down to stare at the real night sky.

‘This reminds me of the parking lot,’ he tells the brunette.

‘God that feels like ages ago,’ Steve smiles back, ‘that’s the first time you let me ride in your car.’

‘No it was the first time you let me drive you home,’ he counters. ‘Little did I know that roped myself in to an unpaid chauffer job.’

‘I do not treat you like my chauffer,’ he sits up to look down at Billy’s stupid smirk. ‘Plus isn’t that what boyfriends are supposed to do, drive me around and let me wear your jacket?’

The word boyfriend makes the alpha’s intestines do a somersault. His anxiety wants to take control, ask Steve “do you mean _boyfriend_ boyfriend or friend that is a boy? Does this mean you like me? Does this mean we’re really doing this?”

Instead he says, ‘why, are you cold?’

Steve bites his lip but still his smile shows through. ‘I wouldn’t say no to an extra layer.’

‘That sounded surprisingly dirty,’ he says as he takes his jacket off and throws it around the omega’s shoulders. Their hands briefly touch, Steve’s a flushed pink and Billy’s shivering. Still he hands over the clothing without a second thought.

With his jacket on Steve smells like both of them, warm and perfect. It smells like shifting seasons.

‘I think that’s when I first realised how much I liked you,’ the omega announces. ‘I mean I liked you before but that was like _the_ moment. My boss and Tommy and everyone made me feel like shit, like I wasn’t worth anything. But the way you looked at me that night made me feel priceless.’ His voice is breezy, like he didn’t realise he wasn’t talking to himself. ‘And I thought, hey if this guy likes me even when I’m dressed as a sailor and I just spilled my guts, maybe it’s not all as shitty as I think it is.’

Billy’s heart skips a beat.

He turns to the stars. ‘I’ve liked you since I first met you.’

‘That’s bullshit,’ Steve groans.

‘It’s not bullshit! Ask Robin if you don’t believe me. And Barb. Hell, even ask Max. I’ve liked you since I first laid eyes on you in your ridiculously short sailor costume and you told me I’d have to work for you.’

Suddenly the omega’s face replaces where the moon was supposed to be. ‘You really don’t remember do you.’

Billy blinks at the leading question. ‘Remember what?’

‘The real first time we met.’

The alpha back steps through the Hawkins era of his life. His worst fears question if he’d somehow hooked up with Steve at a party and forgot about it but he dismisses the idea as quickly as it settled. The first sight of Steve across the mall was one of the pinnacle moments of his existence. Billy loved breaking his life up into bitesize amounts. Before it was always Before Hawkins or After Neil. Now he defined his existence as Before and After Steve.

‘It was years ago,’ Steve explains, ‘About when you first moved here. Max had just joined the party but she was still really quiet and nervous. I was chaperoning the winter formal with Nancy and Jonathan. We were still dating but… I think they were too. I spent the whole night baby-sitting the brats and watching her flirt with him over the punch bowl. I got so angry that I started pacing the corridors, trying to pluck up the courage to break up with her or at least call her out. Then I bumped into you.’

Billy squints so hard the view turns into an oil painting of sloshing colours and nonsensical shapes.

The omega’s voice is the only grounded thing. ‘You literally barrelled into me like a fucking ox. I thought I was being attacked, I mean as a chaperone it’s literally my only job to make sure kids don’t grind on each other or no strangers get in the school. I remember because you had a black eye and this general don’t fuck with me attitude. I got all defensive but you just cut me off, you grabbed my shoulders and snapped “where the hell is Max? She needs to come home, now!”’

Finally, his mind catches up. The gulp he swallows feels like led as it sinks into his stomach.

‘So, I asked who the fuck you thought you were but you pushed past me again. I didn’t know what to do so I just followed you like an idiot! Then you waltzed in and took Max and left without an explanation.’

He tries to apologise but the weight of the memory won’t let him. He remembers every detail of the story except Steve, of Neil screaming at him, driving a sobbing Max home and the sting of the bruises the next morning.

‘I’d see you sometimes,’ Steve continues, softer this time. ‘When you picked Max up from school or Mike’s house. I used to just watch you. I always wanted to go up to you and ask what your deal was. I never dared though. Then I met you again at the mall.’

Billy wills himself to defend his actions but he’s not sure how to word it. He’s moved on mostly from the negative thoughts he’d trap himself in while living with Neil but there was still that small voice in the back of his head that tried to persuade him that no one would ever understand him.

He can’t tell Steve about all those years of lashing out and bad decisions, of sleeping with everything that moved hoping that someone would somehow see through his bullshit and ask if he was okay.

But he feels comfortable enough in the other boy’s presence to say, ‘I wonder what would have happened if you did come up to me. Or if I flirted with you at the school dance. Do you think if we met before things would have turned out differently?’

Steve listens to him with relaxed features. Slowly he folds up the sleeves of Billy’s jacket to take back his hand. ‘Maybe.’ He squeezes Billy tightly. ‘To be honest I’m kind of glad it worked out like this. You would have fucking hated high school Steve, I know I did. I think it’s nice that it’s this version of me you got to meet. Well, meet and remember.’

Billy laughs. ‘I get it. When I moved to Hawkins I was a total asshole. You probably would have kicked my ass. I’m not saying the current me is perfect, but it sort of feels like I’m becoming something better.’ He looks at the omega and silently finishes “like I’m becoming the kind of alpha you could fall in love with.”

Their interlocked fingers tangle further between each other. Steve turns his body fully towards him. ‘Maybe my dad was right,’ he smirks, ‘maybe having a minimum wage job really does build character.’

They both laugh into the night.

Steve’s leaning into his shoulder, arm thrown around his neck in a suffocating cuddle. The scent of him is all consuming. Billy can almost tangibly dissect every layer of emotion, each inhale filling him with a proud glee as the omega submits fully against him. With a burst of bravery he starts absently playing with the locks of brunette hair that tickle his chin. Out of everything they had done together, from bathroom make outs to dry humping on kitchen counters, this feels the most intimate. They lie there exposed to the chill of the night with only each other for protection.

He watches the sky darken above them. The omega’s breathing is the only thing that assures Billy he’s still conscious as time slips away.

The unexpected sensation of Steve slowly peppering kisses onto his neck anchors him back to reality. He submits to the sensation as the omega shuffles, making a map out of his body as he slowly makes his way to his lips. It starts less like a kiss and more of an act of curiosity, testing the waters to memorise every detail of the moment.

If you could scrapbook sensations, Billy would fill a whole goddamn novel of the warmth of Steve’s lip as he kisses him.

Unlike all the times before there’s no time restraint or desperation. The kiss is slow and meticulous, every movement of their mouths precisely chosen to match the other’s passion. Steve lets out a satisfied moan, a sound that says “this is what I’ve been waiting for.” And they have.

So Billy lets him take whatever he needs and simply tangles his hand into his hair.

Steve climbs on top of him and hovers with a smile. He kisses him again, short and sweet, then slow and clumsy.

It feels like falling in love all over again.

Slowly they dissolve into hunger, clinging tightly onto each other as they explore each other’s mouths with vigour, treating skin like claimed territory as they tangle themselves up. As the omega sighs into the feeling a pop song starts playing in the background. It feels like they’ve stumbled into a rom-com. Except they can actually hear the music. They can both hear it.

‘I love this song,’ Steve interrupts with a smile.

Billy snorts. ‘You would.’

The omega starts over again in the crescendo of the chorus. As he peppers kisses along his jawline the alpha continues moaning in annoyance.

‘You and Max have the same shitty taste in music. We took a road trip to the beach once and she kept repeating this same song over and over again. I had to endure this fuckery for three straight hours.’

Steve mumbles dismissively into his skin, threatening a hickie if Billy continues speaking.

He moans at the sensation. ‘I really hate this song.’

The omega settles more securely on top of him. While Billy distracts himself with the past Steve puts all his energy into overwhelming him. He uses one arm to steady himself and the other to pin the alpha’s hands above his head. The look on his face is mischief. Even though they both know Billy could easily overpower him, they play with the feeling of dominance.

Eventually the pop song stops playing. But just as soon as it ends it repeats even louder. It sounds like memories, like car sickness and his sister’s annoying cackle.

Suddenly his brain sobers up and he pushes Steve off. ‘Max! Fuck, Max is calling.’

Clearly offended the omega whips his saliva on Billy’s jacket. ‘So, call her back later.’

‘You don’t get it,’ Billy snaps, ‘Max never calls me. I need my phone, where are the car keys?’ Steve blinks confused at him so slams his hand on the car door. ‘The keys Steve, where are the keys? I need my phone.’

Feigning urgency the brunette searches his many pockets for the keys. As the alpha grows more frustrated he rolls his eyes. Finally, he finds them and throws them towards the blonde ‘She probably just needs a ride.’

Billy doesn’t reply. He unlocks the car and searches for his phone, hitting answer just before the final verse slips away.

‘Max? What’s wrong?’ He shouts into the receiver.

But it wasn’t Max. It was El.

_‘Uh, Billy?!’_ She sobs hurriedly, _‘s-somethings wrong with Max.’_

His instincts go into overdrive. ‘What do you mean something’s wrong? Is she hurt?’

The young omega’s insecurity gets lost in the crackling of the phone. In the mess of confusion Billy can hear the wailing of Max on the other end of the line. It was a sound past mild panic and into full blown hysteria. The alpha growls at the sounds making El try and articulate herself faster.

_‘N-No? I don’t think so. She just woke up and started screaming, I-I can’t get her to stop!’_ El cries.

Steve watches his expression change through the front window. He’s mouthing questions at him, but Billy can’t calm himself to defuse every situation at once.

‘Put her on, El.’

The girls sobbing intensifies. _‘I-I can’t, she’s not talking just screaming! I tried-’_

_**‘Put her on the phone,’**_ Billy demands.

Hearing the alpha command makes both El and Steve whimper.

Max’s screaming gets unbearably loud as she’s handed the phone.

Billy tries to slow his heart when he hears her. ‘Max, you need to calm down and tell me what’s wrong, okay?’

_‘B-Billy! Oh my god, Billy!’_ Her words are almost unintelligible between tears. Every breath she takes sounds like a painful hiccup. _‘I-I knew it wasn’t over, I knew it would all happen again. Please c-come home, I’m so scared he was- god alpha please, I’m so scared.’_

He tries to interpret the words, but his adrenaline is making him jump to too many conclusions at once. ‘Calm down, Max. What are you talking about? What happened?’

_‘He’s here, Billy,’_ the omega cries, _‘Neil’s back.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My new year resolution is to make sure I'm a speedier writer so I won't let you dangle on that cliffhanger too long! Your continued support has really kept me going, seriously every single hit, kudos and comment means the world to me <3


	7. Loose Cannon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! This chapter has references of past child abuse and tragic backstories. Although nothing graphic is described (far less than the events on the show) please proceed with caution. There is only one example of on page violence in this chapter, however it is justly deserved.

Billy all but jumps from the car, engine still running, mind on fire.

He distantly registers Steve’s voice calling after him but it gets lost in the white noise of adrenaline. All he allows himself to process is the thudding of his heart as he runs up the porch steps and throws open the front door.

There’s no blood, that’s his first thought. No broken glass, no imposing figure, no unwelcome scent. Just El standing in the hallway holding the house phone whimpering into the receiver. His instincts urge him to stop and comfort the destressed omega but a deeper more savage part of his psyche wanted to tear the house apart brick by brick. He’s stuck at the crossroad between comfort and violence for so long he becomes his own looming figure in the hallway.

Beneath his shadow El curls further into herself.

‘What the hell is going on?!’ He asks, more accusing than he hoped.

The omega holds the phone to her chest. ‘M-Max had a nightmare and-’

_‘A nightmare?!’_

Before he can catch up to the reality a sudden force throws itself into his arms. Max clings to him like a lifeline.

‘Billy! Oh my god!’ She screams. Her arms coil so tightly around him that he’s pulled down to her level.

Stunned, he takes in her safe but scared scent. He holds her to his chest protectively and checks behind her shoulder for danger. But there was just darkness. Nothing but a still endless darkness.

‘It wasn’t a nightmare!’ Max pleads, ‘you have to believe me Billy. He was here! He was…’ She points back to the darkness.

The two cling to each other like children expecting a monster to crawl out of their wardrobe. But nothing emerges.

Nothing was there.

Max senses his reluctance. She pulls back so the alpha could see the determination of her stare. ‘He was outside my bedroom window. He s-said he’d come back, I knew he’d come back-’

‘But he’s not. He can’t be. It was just a dream,’ he tries to persuade her back but he himself is lost in that fearful doubt. He can’t smell Neil’s imposing scent, can’t feel his glare breaking him down from a far.

‘He was here. Billy you _have_ to believe me.’

He can’t look her in the eye so he pulls her back into his chest. ‘I believe you Max. I won’t let him hurt you again. I promise.’

They lean into each other’s embrace, swaying in the chorus of Max’s sobbing and the dial tone from the phone. Once again Billy feels the warm presence of Steve behind him, smoothing out the smell of fear with comfort. He hangs up the phone.

Billy lets the illusion of relief wash over him as she slowly sinks onto the sofa, Max still cradled to his chest. He tries to iron out the terror in his scent like Steve could, to make his body as hospitable as possible. But his posture is too tightly strung. The redhead still threats his arms like a safe space to fall apart inside of. And she does so, still hiccupping, still pleading for an empty promise. Eventually exhaustion takes over her small form and Max too joins the darkness.

The alpha holds her in a grip just short of bruising. She was so soft and delicate in his arms. It takes all his concentration just to rock her into sleep. In his absentmindedness he doesn’t process Steve walking towards him until he’s close enough to touch. His eyes are soft with pity.

‘Sorry,’ Billy tells him.

‘You don’t have anything to apologise for. Everything’s going to be okay,’ he says because that’s what omega’s always say. That’s what Billy’s mother used to swear to him every night. And the words meant everything to him until his world fell apart. Then they were just hollow.

Billy tells his reply to the darkness. ‘It’s not.’

‘It is,’ Steve swears with more conviction than Billy thought possible. ‘Max is going to be okay. She’s got her big brother to look after her. She’s lucky to have such a caring alpha like you in her life.’ He smiles. ‘I’m pretty lucky too.’

‘Sorry I ruined our big date.’

‘You didn’t ruin it. We had fun, had a dirty conversation, got lost and ended the night crying at home. It’s like losing my virginity all over again!’

The alpha laughs, quitting the sound when Max stirs on his chest. ‘This was the worst first date ever.’

Steve reaches over to stoke his hair in retaliation. He moves down to his scent gland where he lingers ever so slightly. ‘I guess we’ll just have to make our next date even better.’

‘It couldn’t be any worse than this.’

Outside a car door slams and heavy feet thud to the front door. On instinct Billy tenses up again, pulling Max away from the threat as the door swings open. But it was just Hopper.

El runs over to the older alpha and throws her arms around him. In return he picks her while still moving forward. Like Bill he surveys the darkness. Only this time he turns on the light.

Nothing.

Hopper turns towards him. ‘Two officers are on the way to check the perimeter. We’ll search the place just to make sure.’

Billy expects the promise to alleviate the heaviness of his heart. But nothing.

He nods.

‘It’s better to be safe than sorry,’ the man concludes.

El starts to sniffle again, turning their attention back to the overwhelming stench of fear than lingered in the room.

‘Come on,’ Hopper soothes the omega on his hip, ‘let’s get you home. You too, Harrington.’

Steve jumps as if suddenly remembering he was there. He nods over to Hopper who starts exiting the house, turning towards Billy with a soft smile. ‘Get some sleep, I’ll see you soon.’ His goodbye comes in the form of a quick peck on the cheek before he follows Hopper into the night.

Then Billy is left with nothing but the warmth of Max’s breath on his neck and the knowledge that the front door wasn’t locked.

* * *

The days passed as slow as seasons. In the aftermath of adrenaline they were physically and emotionally exhausted. Max had given up sleep in favour of cowering beneath the covers. She couldn’t even step foot in her bedroom after that night, scared if she did the shape of Neil would reappear in her window and she’d be completely and utterly alone. Through the poorly insulated walls Billy could hear her cries. Wordlessly he pulled all the sheets off both their beds to make a shelter for them in the living room. It didn’t really work though. If anything, it just retained the fear to a smaller space, the stench of it seeping through every curtain and blanket in their home. It was in the fabrics of his clothes. No matter how many times he scrubbed at them the smell of misery wouldn’t wash out.

After three days of no sleep Susan had started crying too.

‘Do you think…’ she tried to stir one evening where they swapped dinner for long silences, not daring to leave for groceries but not strong enough to brave the ringing of a delivery driver. None of them had dared to fill in the end of her question. _“Do you think he’s really back? Do you think Max is going to be okay? Do you think any of this is actually real?”_

And Billy can’t answer because he doesn’t want to even entertain the possibility that after everything they’d struggled with, their world was finally coming to an end.

‘Maybe,’ he had replied just to stop the uncertainty from growing further.

Susan nodded regardless.

The next day Billy followed his usual routine of tucking Max into the nest of blankets and keeping her misery company. A kid’s movie was playing, one she’d seen too many times to count. It was her home comfort every time she had a bad day at school or cramps or as background noise while doing her dreaded algebra homework. The alpha never saw the appeal and every time he tried to concentrate on the shallow plot points his mind couldn’t help but wander.

He should be using his time better, but it was hard to be productive when you weren’t confident on what day it was anymore. Still, he should call work or Steve and make an excuse for his radio silence.

It was at the part of the movie where all the characters came back together to say something cheesy. This was the part where Max would laugh even though she’d heard the same jokes for ten years straight. Not now though. Now she stares dumbly at the screen, blinking at the pixels.

He pretends to watch the movie instead of her frown. ‘You hungry?’

She shakes her head.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not cooking,’ he jokes.

Still she doesn’t smile.

Billy reaches out to her but halts halfway. He’s not sure what he’s supposed to do, just knows that he needs to do something, _anything_ to make her feel better. As he opens his mouth in an attempt to say something reassuring a loud crash sounds from outside.

Both of them jump from their seats, looking at each other as if to say, “you heard that too, right?” Now they weren’t in an overplayed sickly-sweet family film but a low budget horror. Logically Billy searches for any other reason for the sound except disaster.

But nothing.

Max crawls into herself, becoming one with the blankets.

So, Billy does what alpha’s always do in these movie moments and slowly walks down the hallway. He expects to see the shadow of a hulking figure from the gap in the door. But nothing. Not a sound, not a sight. It had to be nothing. Either that or it was the perfect opportunity for chaos.

He opens the front door to answer the wind, half expecting Neil to be sitting on the decking, cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. He’d say something that would make Billy feel so small that he’d slip between the cracks of wood. But sure enough there was nothing once more.

Happily dejected, he turns to walk back inside but his shoe gets caught on something on the floor. There, tucked under the welcome mat, was another letter. Billy falls to his knees beside it.

The envelope was worn, edges curled into the shape of shoes that had long faded the lettering. If the letter was in anyone else’s hands it would be unintelligible. But Billy was all too familiar with its weight in his shaking hands.

Maybe it was a confession, he wonders naively, a twenty-page essay detailing every mistake staring with his birth. The pages wouldn’t be tear stained, not even in his wildest daydreams. But maybe they’d at least be sincere.

Then Billy’s mind darkens as quickly as it dreamt. What if it was a threat? What if he opened the envelope and out-spilled hate filled scribblings, polaroids of Max through a window, of that night.

He thumbs the seal of the envelope. _“William Hargrove,”_ the scrawling mocks. _“I know who you are,_ ” it calls, _“I know where you’re hiding.”_

The stamp shows the way things were, a roaring ocean and a carton sunshine. California used to promise that quiet chaos, the prelude of abuse. The coast was act one of his life story and when things got harder, in the climax of his self-hate he wanted to hitchhike back until the smell of the sea salt was stronger than his tears. Maybe then he could reach even further back until he crawled back into his mother’s arms and stay there.

Every possibility swims through his mind. As he barely gathers enough courage to open the letter the sound of running footsteps gets closer.

Quickly he blinks away his tears and shoves the letter into his pocket. He doesn’t know how he missed the sight of Hopper pulling up in his car with El trailing behind him. The small omega has snacks stuffed into her overall pocket that spill into her arms. She pays him no mind as she brushes past him and runs into the house, leaving a trail of cookies in her wake.

Hopper follows with far less enthusiasm. Out of uniform he looks absurd. The unironed creases in his shirt juxtapose the harsh Hawaiian pattern. He looks like a caricature of a mid-life crisis.

Billy’s sure he and his dark circles look like a caricature of a mid-mid-life crisis. That or just a general crisis.

The other alpha seems to think this to. ‘How you holding up, kid?’

 _“I’m not”_ he wants to say, _“it feels like the world is trying to swallow me whole and I’m scared I’m going to let it.”_ He clears his throat. ‘We’re…. coping.’

Hopper squints at him for so long Billy’s scared he’ll fill in the blanks, pull out a notebook and ask: _“And what about you Billy? How does this all make you feel? What do you remember?”_ And Billy won’t say anything because that what he was best at. He’ll just light up a cigarette and take a step back.

But if anyone in the world was to empathise with him it would be Hopper. Billy supposes it’s all that toxic masculinity, the alpha instinct to puff your chest out and demand everyone else say you’re well adjusted.

The charade maintains until a flock of birds flee above them and Billy’s shoulders drop in defeat and his scent coils with fear.

Hopper waits for them to fly away. ‘It’s natural to feel jittery now the surveillance team is gone but we’re still on your side. We’ve checked surveillance footage, questioned possible witnesses and done a full investigation of the house. I even sent out a state-wide alert for anyone matching his description, even with the details Maxine… saw.’

He stands up. _‘And?’_

The older alpha sighs. ‘There’s nothing kid.’

The finality of the statement makes his stomach coil. This is how it always started, a confession, a few questions, and then silence. Billy couldn’t go through this again and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Maxine do it either. ‘That could mean-’

‘-That’s a good sign,’ Hopper interrupts calmly. ‘There wasn’t a scent or any evidence left behind and there’s been no other sightings.’

Billy’s irrationality bubbles again but Hopper overwhelms his scent with calm.

‘But I’m still on your side,’ he gestures to the house where the sound of the omega’s light-hearted conversations can be heard, ‘we’re all on your side. I know what you went through last time and this isn’t me or anyone else bruising it under the rug. There’s no bureaucracy here. I even contacted the guys up in California to see if they knew anything. He’s had a few small arrests, disorderly behaviour, a few bar fights. They’re monitoring him closely.’

The last line feels like its directed at him. There were too many parallels between him and his father that Billy doesn’t even want to begin to entertain.

‘The point is,’ Hopper concludes, ‘he’s not left California. He never did.’

Billy’s legs give out under him. He falls onto the front porch with a deflated thud. The letter in his pocket feels like a cinderblock. ‘S-So it was just a dream.’

The older alpha pats his shoulder somewhat methodically. The sentiment speaks volumes, but the feeling is uncomfortable. ‘But that doesn’t mean it’s not important. She’s a good kid but shit like that doesn’t go away, it takes time.’

Billy turns towards the house hoping to tune into the pitch of his sister’s voice. As he does so he realises Hopper is doing the same. Max and El’s voices are interchangeable, speaking so fast it was clear neither were really paying attention to the other. They met only in their giggling that sent a warm wave of satisfaction through Billy’s chest.

He looks up at Hopper who’s smiling too.

El and Max were an unlikely duo. When they first moved to Hawkins Billy remembered the redhead complaining about the other omega over pointless drama that Billy tried to tune out of. The drama escalated over late-night phone calls and middle school gossiping about the other. But after a while, after Billy was humbled by his own misery of trying to scrub the memory of his father away, the two became partners in crime. He’d chalked it up to fickle friendships but now it finally made sense. El bore the same scars Max did. They had both experienced sadness too young and had found an opportunity in each other to heal themselves.

Suddenly all the sleepovers and shopping trips made sense. Max was scared of being alone and El’s arguably bizarre presence was a remedy for that.

Billy looks up at Hopper and sees himself in the man’s protective stare.

The other alpha turns back towards him. ‘The guys up in California are going to keep a close eye on him. But I promise if he gets arrested for something bigger, or gets re-mated, I’ll drive down to California myself and cut his knot off, okay?’

‘Thanks Hopper,’ he chokes out, ‘for everything.’

‘Don’t thank me yet kid.’ He pulls out his car keys and starts to slowly back away. ‘Try and get some sleep. And a shower wouldn’t hurt,’ he winks.

Billy winces into a smile. ‘Noted.’

‘I’m serious kid. Not about the smell. You need to relax and have some fun. God knows the stuff I was getting up to at your age. Why don’t you call up that Harrington kid, go out and have some fun?’ He stumbles in both wording and footing, ‘But not too much fun.’

Mournfully, the blonde turns back towards to the house. Max and El start giggling again.

‘They’ll be alright,’ Hopper assures, ‘they’re in good hands.’

And with that the man leaves with a philosophical nod.

Billy remains sitting on the stairs. The letter in his pocket feels like a led weight. Surely, if he were to fall, the burden would be enough to sink him completely.

* * *

Jolly Rogers was where happiness went to die. And after a harrowing five-hour shift Billy was prepared to be the one to shoot both it and himself in the head. A trainee waitress had sneezed while picking up a full tray of drinks, sending a sticky freezing mess to spill over both Billy and the bar. If looks could kill the poor girl would be the third victim of the day. Luckily Barb stepped in before anymore blood or cocktails could be spilled.

She throws him a rag to dry himself. ‘You doing okay?’

‘I’m fucking fantastic,’ the alpha grits out. He scrubs his shirt with frustration but the stain just grows.

Barb doesn’t submit. ‘Take a break. You worked all the way through lunch, you’re exhausted.’

Billy throws the rag on the wet bar. He sacrificed his lunch break in favour of another hour’s pay. It was heart breaking to see Steve wave at him from across the mall, all sailor-clad and smiling. The alpha simply shook his head and mouthed an apology. Although dealing with the bullshit from work was slightly easier to stomach than having to answer Steve’s growing concerns.

‘I need the money,’ he murmurs.

Barb picks up the rag and starts drying down the bar. ‘Then take my fifteen-minute break. I’m not working the dinner shift so-’

‘I don’t need to take your break!’ he snaps, ‘I need people to do their fucking jobs.’

Ironically the trainee waitress re-emerges sheepishly. She holds up a ticket. ‘Uh, table six is wondering where their drinks are.’

The alpha snatches the paper from her hands. ‘I don’t have an order for table six. Did you hand it to me?’

‘Uh… n-no?’

‘No?! Okay so how am I supposed to make their drinks when I don’t have the order? Mind-reading?’

‘Billy,’ Barb warns. She puts a hand on the young girl’s shoulders that start to tremble. Her neck is bared in submission and her eyes are wet with tears.

The alpha swallows his anger. He tries to apologise but he’s too scared his voice will quiver. Instead he turns away to make the missing order feeling their stares on his back. The feeling intensifies until a firmer voice cuts through the awkward silence.

‘Billy,’ his boss calls. ‘My office. Now!’  
.  
He turns around cautiously only to see the man disappear into the back.

Billy had only been to the man’s office a few times before. Each was a pointlessly long lecture or demonstration about something ridiculous like folding napkins. The only time he enjoyed being ushered into the cramped room was when his boss found out they were betting on which fish in the tank would die first. Both he and Barb had put their money on a deformed looking goldfish named Gertrude. They would have won too if one of the dishwashers hadn’t taken it too seriously and murdered a clownfish in cold blood. As morbid as it was, the alpha had never seen Barb laugh so hard when they had to sign a contract promising no fishily harm.

She wasn’t laughing now though. Barb sends him a look of confused pity.

Billy flees from the weight of it until he’s outside his boss’ door. There’s a scribbled sign that reads ‘KNOCK!’ in marker. He glares at the words but still follows the order.

‘Who is it?’ His boss calls out.

The alpha slams his head into the sign. ‘It’s Billy. You said you wanted to see me… like two seconds ago.’

Silence is his reply. The man lets it stretch out as long as possible. ‘Come in.’

Reluctantly, Billy opens the door.

For someone who does no actual work the man’s office is covered in unorganised paperwork. The cramped walls are plastered with motivational posters and schedules from staff long past. It has the ambitions of an office however. The tattered leather chair stands proudly behind a desk smothered with sea-life memorabilia. All illusions of professionalism are however overwhelmed by the stench of cheap sea-food that seeps in from the kitchen next door.

‘Sit down,’ his boss orders even though the alpha was already doing so. The childish part of Billy’s stubbornness wants to stand up to prove a point. But the man keeps speaking. He leans back into his leather chair with a smirk. ‘Do you know why I wanted to speak with you today?’

‘I’m getting promoted?’ The alpha guesses in monotone.

The beta doesn’t laugh. ‘Billy, Billy, Billy. What am I supposed to do with you?’

 _“Pay me,”_ Billy retorts mentally, _“let me go back to wallowing in my shitty pirate costume.”_

His boss tilts his head with a smug smile. ‘I know your type. Let me guess you were head of the football team, prom king, slept with every omega who so much looked at you. I bet you were king of the school.’

Billy’s at a crossroad. A superficial part of him wants to laugh. A few months earlier he would have taken it as a compliment. Would have grown under his boss’ scrutiny and replied with a witty remark of _“why, are you jealous?”_ But in the context of his self-hatred he wants to shrivel up. He had reinvented himself so well that sometimes he forgets he wasn’t the hot shot bad boy that only wants sex and power. Sometimes he forgets he was fifteen and furiously frightened.

His boss only sees the bravado though, so he continues his character study. ‘But now high school’s over all that status has disappeared. Now you’re just a washed-up alpha thinking he can waltz around my fucking business forgetting that he’s not the boss.’

Billy blinks. ‘W-What are you talking about?’ He looks down at his stained shirt. ‘If this is about the broken glasses then you can take it out my pay check. But it really wasn’t my fault-’

‘It’s not just about the broken glasses,’ His boss cuts in. He picks up a large pile of paper and shuffles through them dramatically. ‘This is about the time you changed the temperature in the freezer. And the time you forgot to lock up the store.’ He shuffles through the pages with a sadist satisfaction. ‘Oh, this is a good one, how about the time you didn’t turn up for work for a week with no notice. Or when you confused your lunch break with a three-hour gallivant around the mall. Or how about when you got into a shouting match with a girl on shift. Would you like me to keep going?’

The alpha crawls into himself like a Russian nesting doll. ‘I know it sounds bad but it’s only because I’ve been going through a really-’

‘I don’t want any excuses. I want results.’ His boss places the handful of paperwork down. Billy notices they’re blank but doesn’t dare comment. ‘I took a risk hiring you. You’re a handsome kid, pretty strong, I thought I could use that. I thought you could use that. And above everything else I’m honestly just disappointed. You see because out of your little high school bubble, in the real world, it’s people like me that hold the power. So while you sit there with your arms crossed and scent all defensive, I want you to know what a colossal waste of time you are. Do you understand that?’

There’s a close alternative universe where Billy throws himself over the desk to beat the smug smile of his boss’ face. But the glum reality is far starker.

Despite Hopper’s help Max was struggling. The young omega was still too scared to be alone. Billy comforted her all he could at night time and Susan took the day shift. The alpha had to double his hours just to keep their heads above after. Between bills, groceries, gas and prescriptions he felt like he was drowning in a never-ending onslaught of responsibility. One he was powerless to stop.

‘That wasn’t a rhetorical question,’ his boss leers further.

Billy tries to keep his composure, but his voice is dejected. ‘I understand.’

‘I want you to apologise to me.’

‘I’m sorry.’ A beat. Billy’s rage heightens to misery. ‘I’m _really_ sorry. I’ll do better, I swear.’

An exhausted sigh sounds from across the desk. The beta picks up a snow globe of two smiling otters and throws it between his hands. Billy watches his forlorn look bounce off the cheap plastic dome.

‘You better do. You’ve got one final chance to redeem yourself or your fired. Try not to fuck it up like you always do.’ He smiles. This was a charade of dominance. ‘Now go home and sort yourself out.’

‘No!’ He replies on instinct. The other man’s glare worsens so he backtracks, ‘Uh no, sir. I’m working the dinner shift tonight.’

The beta squints at him, trying to find the right button to press. ‘Not anymore.’

Billy stands up. ‘Please sir, I really need the money. My family-’

‘-That sounds like your problem. When you come in to work on Monday I expect you to arrive on time with a can-do-attitude. If I detect even a slither of alpha bullshit we’re done.’

The anger bubbles back. Billy’s knuckles twitch. The defensive sourness of his scent almost curdles in the air. He swears he sees the older man flinch. Then all the words and realities hit him at once and Billy does what he does best and flees.

He can’t even bring himself to close the door behind him, simply skulking through the kitchen with heavy fleeting footsteps. As he moves thorough the main restaurant the trainee waitress squeaks in reply. Barb tries to match his pace but his anger is paramount to her confusion.

‘What happened?’ She asks worriedly, ‘Is everything okay?’

Billy side steps around her and slams open the restaurant doors. The whole food court jumps in surprise but the alpha doesn’t register anything. All he hears is the thudding of his feet that match his heartbeat and a very distant cry of his name from someone’s lips. He all but runs out of the mall, only re-associating when the cold autumn air stings his skin.

The alpha looks around the car park and feels his soul pulled in too many directions. His eyes are too blurry to find his car so he ducks into the delivery alleyway to protect himself from the wind. Desperately, he scrambles to pull out his pack of cigarettes. Instead his fingers grasp onto the harsh edges of the envelope and his mind reels even further past composure. The weight of it in his hands is enough to sink him completely.

He’s too busy trying to gasp for air to register the sound of running feet.

Steve appears in front of him gasping as well. His face is flushed from running, knees buckled under the weight of his stitch.

‘Please,’ Billy begs before the omega can speak, ‘I’m really not in the mood to be-’ but his words dissolve into an almost animalistic cry. He feels humiliated. Here Billy Hargrove was standing beside a dumpster on the verge of tears dressed like a pirate.

God must really have a sick sense of humour.

The omega’s stance softens. Cautiously, as if not to scare him off, he tiptoes towards Billy’s hiccupping form. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

‘No! I-I’m fine,’ he cries, all mucus and misplaced anger. ‘Go back to work. I don’t want you getting into trouble because of me.’

But Steve doesn’t move. ‘I’m worried about you. We all are.’

And that’s what sets him off. Suddenly the deep hollowness in Billy chest fills with realisation that he’ll always be the villain in his own story. He looks down at Steve’s doe like eyes and tries to make his posture as bestial as possible. ‘Then maybe you should go. Who knows what I’ll do if you stay.’

Steve’s eyes flicker with confusion. ‘That’s not what I meant, Billy.’ His tone, body and scent are soft in a way that seems harsh in comparison to the smell of the dumpster. ‘I mean we all care about you. You’re no okay and it’s breaking my heat. And don’t bullshit me Billy because I see it, I know it, I feel it too. Stop pretending you’re okay when you’re so obviously not.’

And that’s what sets him off. Billy’s body almost demolishes into tears. The remains of his alter-ego lie fragmented at his feet as deep brutal sobs escape his body. He lets go of his humiliation and gives into the freedom of his body relaxing into his sadness. He feels like a child, a sobbing infant who just wants the world to fix itself.

The feeling intensifies when Steve’s arms wrap around his hiccupping shoulders. It’s wordless in a way only instincts are. Suddenly they don’t have to label what their touches do or their hearts feel. Suddenly Steve is holding him like his mother used to, with such a caring severity that their heartbeats become one.

With a hand untangling his curls, the omega purrs deep within his chest to make his body into safe space for Billy to unravel himself.

‘God! Everything’s just been so fucking much lately,’ he sobs into Steve’s chest. The hand in his hair softens, motioning for him to continue. ‘All this stuff with Max is really messing me up. I thought it was over. I thought we could just move on and forget it but we can’t and it’s so-’

His tone turns hysterical so he snorts unattractively to find his voice again. And Steve gives him exactly that he needs. Time.

‘After Hopper I thought she’d feel better but all she does is cry and cry. She can’t be alone so Susan had to take time off from work which means we’re even shorter on money and- _God_ it just feels like I’m working my ass off and nothings getting any better. And I’m just so fucking tired. So tired of feeling this shitty all the time. I’m too tired to sleep because all I can think about is the fact everyone is expecting me to be okay. So, I have to be okay.’

Steve’s scent shushes him. It makes his whole body go lax, lulled into a sense of security he thought died alongside his childhood.

‘But you’re not okay, and that’s okay,’ the omega chimes. Billy looks up at him though tear filled eyes. ‘You’re allowed to ask for help. I’m here for you. Your family is here for you. Hopper and the pack are here for you. Even Dustin. Even Robin.’ He smiles down at the mess of blonde curls in his chest. ‘Okay especially Robin. She low-key loves you more than I do.’

Billy’s heart skips a beat.

Steve smiles as he straightens up. ‘And I think you’re pretty fucking amazing, Billy Hargrove.’

And those were the words that ended it all. Their bodies move in tandem of one another, hands grasping shoulders and pulling each other closer than ever before. The kiss is the absence of everything but each other. It was wet and snotty and objectively disgusting, but their lips make up for the logic with an unwavering sense of simplicity. Holding Steve’s cheek in his hands makes his heart swell. It was like his body was relearning how to move. He marvels a hand across the omega’s flush cheek with a twitching grasp reflex.

The sensation feels like it lasts forever until an unwelcome voice cuts through the comfort.

_‘Well if it isn’t the happy couple!’_

Both of their bodies snap apart in shock.

Tommy smirks at them with a look of pure disgust. ‘I didn’t expect to see you both swapping STDs in a back alley but it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?’

‘Fuck off, Tommy,’ Steve bites back.

The offending alpha pretends to consider it. He’s looks like the perfect archetype of dead-beat jock. His outfit is too put together, stance so pathetically aggressive. If It wasn’t for Billy’s hatred of fate he’d almost think the ruse was planned.

Tommy tries to look the omega up and down behind the cover of Billy’s body.

‘Aw, don’t be like that Stevie, I’m happy for you. At least now you’re finally fucking someone who’s a bigger whore than you are.’

Billy growls as the alpha steps closer. He hopes somewhat superficially that his tears had dried. After opening the floodgates Billy’s not sure he has enough emotional strength to slam them shut again. But with the way Tommy was so obviously seducing his anger he’s pretty sure he can settle back into the role of poetic justice.

In the crossfire of testosterone, Steve pulls Billy back. ‘Ignore him. He’s not worth it.’

His alpha instincts were doing backflips. Sure, he was biologically programmed to fight and protect, but above all, despite what the media tried to argue, alpha’s strongest instincts where to surrender to omega’s orders. Billy steps down but doesn’t submit.

Tommy’s grin is void of a grimace. ‘You should keep your mutt on a tighter leash.’

‘Why?!’ Billy barks, ‘scared I’ll kick your ass again?’

The air between them thickens. It was a performance of masculinity. Or stubbornness. Billy’s not sure he can tell the difference between the two anymore.

‘You wouldn’t,’ Tommy counters.

‘Yeah, and why’s that?’

While the bruises had long since faded Billy could still sense the alpha’s wounded pride. His hands twitched in muscle memory. It would be so easy to beat him back into submission.

Tommy reads his internal monologue. If anything, his smile only grows. He causally struts through their no-man’s land. ‘See my dad’s a lawyer,’ he relishes, ‘and he seemed very familiar with your name. After you trashed my house and mauled me like a psycho it got me asking some really interesting questions. Like, what kind of degenerate rabid alpha was capable of doing that sort of thing? So, I looked you up on my dad’s database and read though every single page.’

Billy’s stomach buckles. A genuine terror distorts his face.

Even worse than realisation is the feeling of Steve’s uncertain stare blinking beside him.

‘Wouldn’t want to breach your court order would you, William?’ Tommy triumphs. He’s close enough to reach now, just one punch away from making the torture stop. But the freckled alpha elongates his suffering with a sick sadistic smile. His gaze flickers to Steve who’s still lost in the motions. ‘I wonder what will happen to little Stevie when you’re not around anymore. Maybe another alpha will-’

‘-Back the fuck up!’ Billy snaps. He’s caught at the crossroads again. He tries to shield the omega and bare his teeth at the same time, but it just comes out as a frustrated whimper. The small hitch of fear in Steve’s scent helps his fists remember how to clench.

But the omega tries to wrestle him back again. ‘Billy, stop!’

‘No, let him.’ Tommy holds his hands up in defeat. ‘You can hit me or you walk away with your tail between your legs, I don’t care. Either way I win. I always win. You really want to get locked up defending Steve the Machine’s honour?’

‘It would be well worth it,’ he grits out between bared teeth.

The other alpha has the audacity to laugh. ‘That’s cute. Pathetic but cute. You do know you’re fighting a losing battle though right? Omegas like Stevie like being put in their place, and that place is under anyone with a knot.’ He bites the corner of his smirk. ‘Just ask Nancy Wheeler. Or the basketball team. Or his daddy.’

‘Shut the _fuck_ up!’ Billy warns again.

Tommy braces himself for the hit. ‘I bet he’s real loose, isn’t he? I ruined him for everyone else. I bet you could fit a whole fist up-’

A resonating smack cuts his monologue off. It’s a wet violent sound that makes Billy’s molars hurt. He looks to his own hands like he’s having a strange out-of-body experience. But he doesn’t feel the bruise on his fist the way he expects to. Confused he finally looks over at Tommy in a heap of pain on the alley floor and Steve reaching back to punch him again.

‘God don’t you ever shut up?!’ The omega snaps.

Tommy whimpers despite his defensive tone. ‘Everyone knows what a whore you are, waltzing around with your mutt of an alpha-’

‘I said shut,’ another punch, ‘the,’ another, ‘fuck,’ a cry, ‘up!’ Steve towers over the cowering mess of blood on the floor with agency. ‘You want to keep spreading bullshit rumours like a pathetic high schooler then be my fucking guest. But then I’m going to start talking too, something about your minuscule fucking knot and premature ejaculation.’

Billy watches Steve stand up prouder than ever with an almost celestial devotion.

‘If you want to make me your whore then I’ll make sure no omega in the state will want to touch an asshole like you. Good luck trying to fuck over Tammy or Carol like you failed at with me. Maybe then you’ll get it through your thick skull that no one wants to fuck you.’

Tommy’s face is more injury then skin. A black eye is already forming, framed by a wound from Steve’s mean uppercut. He lies back defeated on the tarmac, the position making the blood from his nose clot around his eyes. He tries to blink away the pain with a growl but not many things looked intimidating on a man lying in his own blood.

‘You wouldn’t fucking dare.’ He looks over at Billy to try an inspire his smirk. ‘I’ll go to the police station, say your psycho alpha went rogue and roughed me up. Then they’d cage him up like the animal-’

Steve punches him in the nose. The crack of flesh on flesh makes Billy strangely aroused. Spiritually not sexually. Although Steve did look pretty amazing covered in someone else’s blood with a sobbing man beneath his feet.

‘Say whatever you want but no one will believe you. You lie all the fucking time!’ The omega stands back up and smiles too sweetly to be called sadistic. ‘Why don’t you go to Hopper and tell him the truth, that you got beat up by an omega and cried like a little bitch.’

Tommy sniffles. A mess of blood and tears he tries to stumble to his feet. It takes a few sad attempts under the scrutiny of both Steve and Billy’s amusement, but eventually he limps away.

‘You’re fucking dead, Hargrove,’ he calls behind as he winces away.

Refusing to let the alpha get the last word Steve picks up a can from the dumpster and chucks it at his head. With a hollow thud the trash bounces from his head and with a final cry he disappears from view.

Billy pinches himself to make sure he was awake. ‘H-Holy shit!’ he cries, ‘that was-’

‘Holy shit!’ Steve cries louder, clutching his hand, ‘why didn’t you tell me how much it hurts to punch someone? Oh my god I think I broke something.’

Reversing the roles, Billy softly approaches him and lifts up the omega’s injured hand. It was strange seeing such harsh bruises on such delicate fingers. He tries not to smile too obviously. ‘I mean the technique was a little sloppy, but the passion made up for it. You’ve got to make sure your thumb isn’t in your palm,’ he demonstrates despite his better judgment, ‘and if you don’t hit with a straight wrist you could break something.’

Steve looks up at him with wide innocent eyes. ‘You think its broken?’

‘Nah,’ the alpha dismisses. Still he traces soft soothing patterns on the swollen skin. ‘I think Tommy’s nose was though. That was by far the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.’

The omega’s smile turns mischievous. ‘If I knew this was all it took I would have kicked his ass back in high school.’

It’s in an alleyway, exhausted from crying, fingertips sticky from another alpha’s blood that Billy realises how truly lucky he is to have someone like Steve in his life. His heart grows three sizes looking into the unexpected power behind his too brown eyes.

‘Come on, Princess. Let’s go some ice for your hand.’

* * *

The gas station next to the mall didn’t sell bagged ice or even peas. Steve argues that it was a midwestern thing but Billy argues that it was more to do with the fact the cashier was too busy sleeping to restock the shelves. They compromised with a pack of fruity popsicles and placed the money under the woman’s makeshift chip pillow.

Steve was still riding an adrenaline high. Instead of carefully opening the box he pulls the cardboard apart one-handed sending an assortment of fluorescent flavours to spill over the car park. Both were too distracted to clean them up, so instead they sat among the mess on the sidewalk.

A few customers give them a judgemental stare. Billy realises it was mostly due to the fact Steve was trying to open a popsicle with just his teeth. Half of Hawkins watches him struggle until Billy takes pity on him.

Instead of holding the cold compress to his swollen hand, Steve starts lazily eating the popsicle. His tongue turns an exaggerated red as he talks with his mouthful. ‘I still can’t believe that happened. It’s like I was possessed by a street fighter like… uh what’s that guys name? The one that was in that movie? Uh, uh?’

He clicks his fingers hoping to inspire Billy to answer his nonsense.

But the alpha is staring dumbly at the deconstructed rainbow on the tarmac. Sensing the omega’s concern he ties to busy himself with picking up another popsicle and holding against Steve’s injured hand.

The omega winces so hard the popsicle threatens to fall from his mouth.

Billy softens the pressure. ‘Look… about what Tommy said-’

‘I don’t care,’ Steve cries. ‘All he does is sprout bullshit! I can’t believe he actually thought people were just going to believe him forever. The only reason he ever had any friends is because his older brother would buy booze for parties.’

‘It wasn’t bullshit though,’ the alpha re-directs, ‘what he said about me was true.’

Seemingly dipping from both his adrenaline and sugar high, Steve’s speed slows. He tangles his injured hand into Billy’s while pulling the popsicle out of his mouth with the other. ‘You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.’

Billy looks over at him. Steve’s lips are pouted in concern, mouth stained a brilliant red. He thinks about every time they kissed and all the times they didn’t dare.

‘I just don’t want you thinking I’m some kind of psycho that goes around assaulting people,’ he admits with a wince. ‘I mean I know I don’t have the best track record but…’

Steve puts the popsicle back into his mouth and waits for him again.

‘I didn’t get arrested or anything. It’s just… I have to go to these like meetings or whatever.’

‘Like anger management,’ the omega suggests in the pause.

‘Sort of?’ He fiddles with his fingers, treating them like a flight risk. ‘I have to have these blood tests to check my hormones once a month. It’s not like a stand in for prison or anything it’s more like… it’s more like monitoring after… after I hit someone real bad.’ He takes a deep breath. ‘After I hit my dad real bad.’

A brief look of realisation flashes through Steve’s gaze. He looks down at the popsicles on the floor like he was mentally putting all the pieces together.

Billy watches him patiently settle into a frown. ‘Did Max tell you?’

‘No! I mean she talked about him a little. Mostly it was about how she was glad it was just you and her mom now.’

‘Yeah,’ he laughs humourlessly, ‘he was…’

And the sentence dies there. He’s taken back to all those years ago, lying in a hospital bed with Hopper sitting beside him. The officers always had that deliberate calm to their voice. _“Can you tell us what happened, son? Can you tell us what he did?”_ But he couldn’t. Call it repression or stubbornness but he was never able to put into words what he went through for so long.

In the end it was Max who did the talking. Billy’s only official statement being sullen nods between her tear-filled confessions.

‘He was… angry.’ Billy settles on. ‘Even before he met Susan he was angry at everything in the fucking world. Mostly me.’

Steve treats the strawberry popsicle like a pacifier, eyes comforting him on as he silently listens.

‘He’d like… hit me and stuff. As long as I can remember he’d knock me around over the littlest things. Sometimes just being there was enough. And it was fine, I mean not fine but I could deal with it, I was used to it but… after a while… when he married Susan after my mom-’ He chokes, throat dehydrated and sore from the force of the words. ‘After my mom… left. Then things got better for a bit. But then it started again. Then it got a lot worse.’ He nods his head like he’s trying to convince himself,’ but I was still used to it so… so it was okay.’

The whole night holds its breath with him.

Billy submits into the mundane white noise of the town, lets himself slip back further than he’s ever dared to before.

‘One night we were all sitting around the table for dinner and he started drinking. He’d always get real angry when he drank. We were all just sitting around the table listing to him yell about something. I don’t even remember what we are arguing about but suddenly we were all screaming at each other and out of nowhere he just… hit her.’

‘S-Susan?’ Steve stutters.

‘No,’ Billy wines, ‘Max.’

The whole night was a blurry memory for him, filled with oversaturated colours and the sound of a slap that resonated throughout the house. Billy had closed his eyes when it happened, not daring to live in the nightmare of his reality anymore.

‘She was even doing anything,’ Billy recounts mournfully, ‘she was just fucking sitting there, like that was all he needed.’

The popsicle in both of Steve’s hands had melted. He drops them to the ground among the others and brings Billy’s hand to his chest to warm him. Like it was the cold that was making his body tremble.

‘She had just presented. Just a kid. She started bawling, blood pouring out her nose and he started screaming again, telling her to shut up. But she just kept crying and crying. He went to hit her again so I-’ he inhales sharply. Beneath his fingertips he feels Steve’s heartbeat, so strong and sudden and there. His voice settles again. ‘So, I hit him first. And I kept hitting him again and again.’

The afternoon appears, the sunset settling into its seat beside Steve.

‘I woke up two days later in the hospital.’

The omega’s face is a montage of emotions. He flickers through them until he settles on sympathy. ‘Did he fight back?’

‘No.’ He picks up one of the still-frozen popsicles and holds it back over Steve’s hand. ‘They said it was because I passed out from the pain. I broke my hands from hitting him so hard. But... I think they tranqued me. I don’t remember anything but waking up. Max kept visiting. Still crying.’

The misery in Steve’s gaze makes his heart flicker. To calm the mood he picks up another popsicle, a blue one, and places it into Steve’s agape mouth. The omega fumbles around it before settling on his reply. ‘Was… was he…’

‘He was in a coma,’ the alpha clarified. ‘He had brain swelling or something. He was in real bad shape. They were going to charge me for assault or… attempted murder but Max and Susan pressed charges against him for being abusive. But my dad, Neil, was still unconscious so there was nothing anyone could do.’

Steve’s brow furrows once more. This time his tongue was an intense purple. ‘They could have done something though. Even though he was unconscious, after all those years, after everything he did.’

‘It’s complicated. It got even worse when he woke up. He wanted to talk to his lawyer first, before the cops, even before the doctors. I think he knew it wouldn’t just disappear this time so he built up a defence, claimed he conveniently lost all his memory.’ The alpha shakes his head. ‘It was all fake crocodile tears of _“I’d never hit my kids!”_ It was almost funny.’

Although it wasn’t, not really. Abuse was like an older sibling to Billy, he never knew life without it, thought childhood was supposed to be the way his father manipulated it. But even after all the verbal and physical abuse, it was seeing Neil pretend to cry in the hospital that hurt the most. He supposes that’s why the idea of the letter hurt so much. Neil could keep the charade up but Billy never had that privilege.

‘Hopper saw through his bullshit though,’ Billy tries to conclude somewhat optimistically. ‘He wanted Susan to take him to court still. But my dad said he’d press charges against me if we tried so… we just let it go.’

Steve’s soul was too bright for his own good. Billy saw every word seep through his being until it became him. He reaches over to trace patterns against the others palm.

‘You did the right thing,’ the omega says, because Billy supposes it might seem that way in retrospect.

He shakes his head. ‘I would have gone to jail. I wish I did. That way they could have pressed charges. That way Max could have got a restraining order.’ _“That way we’d all feel a little bit safer.”_

Billy thought about prison a lot. While the reality was surely harsher he had dreamt of it as a child. Large barbed fences can feel like a safe haven when your home was a battleground.

But sitting beside Steve was comfort incarnate.

‘You don’t deserve to be punished for what your dad did, you know that right?’

Billy runs a thumb across Steve’s purple lips. He wants to change the mood, wants to kiss him or call him ridiculous. But the brunette’s gaze is pledged to sincerity.

‘I did a really bad thing. I’ve done a lot of really bad things.’ His retreats to self-consciously hold his scent gland. ‘I don’t regret it, but I can’t forgive myself for becoming that person. I won’t let myself. The only reason I didn’t go to jail was because of Hopper. He convinced everyone that the assault was due to my alpha rage or some bullshit, a hormonal reaction to being near my rut.’

‘Wait, they used your rut as evidence against you,’ Steve exasperates, ‘that’s bullshit.’

‘It was the only way I could stay. I’m not like crazy or anything,’ he defends wildly, ‘I just have to take these pills to supress my rut and have these like… meetings or whatever to make sure I don’t go “rabid” again.’

The omega turns around to face him fully. ‘So, they just expect you to stop having your rut? That’s bullshit! Suppressants fuck up your hormones for years. How long do they expect you to keep taking them?’ As there as Billy was, the look of Steve’s fury makes him zone out a little. The omega’s nose wrinkles up and his sweet homely scent flares to the danger of a small bakery fire.

Steve would kick his ass if he could hear his internal monologue.

‘Uh… I’ve been taking them for two years now, so… just one more year.’ He tries to make his tone as casual as possible, but the omega throws his hands up outraged once more. ‘I don’t mind it,’ he assures. ‘It’s quite nice actually. They make me feel more… on top of it.’

‘You’re not an animal Billy! I can’t believe they expect you to supress your entire biology while that piece of shit walks free! Those pills are poison Billy, you shouldn’t keep taking them. They have long-term effects on your fertility and that’s not even considering what they do to your mental health!’

Billy loves how his hands wave when he’s passionate. He grounds the flailing limbs with a smile, taking extra care with Steve’s injured hand. ‘Calm down, I’m fine.’

Suddenly he’s taken back to a happier memory. It feels like that night in the car park where Billy paced up and down complaining about the boy’s boss. Back then it was Steve trying to console him. Now they were both as bad and as battered as each other.

The omega crosses his arms like a tantruming toddler. ‘It’s bullshit.’ Billy fears another lecture until a smile creeps into the corner of the omega’s frown. ‘If you want me to beat up anyone on your behalf, I’m available. I’m officially a pro now.’

Billy raises an unconvinced eyebrow at his limp bruised hand. ‘I think with your swollen wrist you’re going to be out of action for a while.’ Steve’s scent reminds him of summers long past. He wants to tourist in the sensation of his presence forever. ‘But if that asshole ever comes near you again,’ he starts to warn but Steve just smiles wider.

‘I’ll kick him, got it.’

And then the entire weight of the day just floats away. Billy throws his head back and laughs into the late afternoon air. ‘God this is going to be our thing isn’t it, heart to hearts in a parking lot wearing shitty costumes?’

The omega tips his sailor hat. ‘Maybe non-licensed therapy sessions could be our always.’

Billy snorts. ‘I just want to go on one nice normal date with candles and shit. Like I could pull out your chair and we could make small talk. No back-alley fights or way too deep confessions.’

‘Nah,’ Steve muses to the dirty Hawkins skyline, ‘I kind of like our way better.’

‘That’s because you’re a ruffian. You’re a bad influence on me.’

True to his word Steve kicks him with his gangly legs. He counters the payback by saying: ‘I’d be down for a super classy adult date.’

‘Yeah? Wouldn’t be too corny for you?’ He pesters, re-tying the omega’s shoelaces mid kick.

‘Nah. Third dates are supposed to be special.’

Billy drops his foot with a judging stare. ‘Oh, this so doesn’t count as our second date.’

‘It does! You brought me dinner.’ He holds up a half-melted dirt covered popsicle from the sidewalk. ‘Besides it’ll be our third date and you know what that means?’

‘More crimes? Less icebreakers?’

Steve licks the popsicle. ‘The third date’s when you have sex.’

Billy does a spiritual spit take. He does everything but watch the omega’s mouth. ‘Is that all you think about: violence, sex and food?’

‘Is that your way of telling me you’re going to buy me dinner? I’m pretty hungry from defending your honour,’ he counters. ‘I want KFC.’

‘You’re insane.’

Steve flutters his eyelashes.

‘Fine!’ Billy concedes. He stands up stubbornly. ‘I’ll buy you some fried chicken.’

‘And you’ll feed me?’

‘Your hand isn’t that bad!’

‘It is! Besides if you feed me then I’ll get to lick your fingers, that’s how it works.’ Steve makes grabbing motions to the air like a child who wanted to be picked up.

The alpha pulls him to his feet. ‘That is the least sexy thing I have ever heard. I think my dick just crawled inside my body.’

They both bend down laughing to try and clean the colossal mess around them. Steve waves one hand limply in the air while using the other to throw only the lemon flavoured popsicles in the trashcan. The rest he tries storing into his pockets like a hoarding squirrel. ‘You know if we get KFC then that’s basically our third date, which means-’

‘We are not having sex with your claw hands smelling like shitty chicken,’ the alpha concludes. Billy tries to walk away from both the mess and the conversation.

But Steve catches up to him. For an omega he was very tall, but even with his long legs he still has to take two paces to match the alpha’s speed. Billy feels like he’s being chased by an adorably annoying sheep dog.

 _‘Firstly,’_ the omega barks, ‘KFC is amazing. Secondly, don’t ever call me clawed again. And thirdly,’ he finally overtakes him only to stop dead in Billy’s tracks. ‘Are you really telling me you’d say no to this?’

Billy looks at his dumb quaffed hair wrangled only by a sailor hat, body contorted into a dramatic pose that only causes him to wince at the sting from his arguably fractured wrist. He doesn’t dare tell the omega how annoyingly perfect he is.

‘I don’t know about you Harrington but I’m a little classier than getting busy in a KFC bathroom.’

‘That’s not why I heard. Little buddy of mine told me-’ but he can’t even finish his bullshit until they’re both laughing like school children.

Billy shakes his head as his chest warms. ‘Any chance you can kick your own ass, Harrington?’

The omega retaliates by taking a running jump onto his back and shouting out half remembered directions to the KFC. They wonder around Hawkins for hours until Billy’s muscles start to cramp. He feels the twist in his gut when he finally flops onto his bed at home, the memory and promise of laughter and kisses that tasted exactly like the colour purple.

And it’s the part of Steve he carries within himself that finally gives Billy the strength to open the envelope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has been a bitch to write but your continuous support has kept me going. Somehow this story has surpassed one THOUSAND kudos and I want to thank every single one of you for sticking with me. As a celebration I solemnly swear the angst is officially over, and next chapter will be 40% fluff and 60% smut.
> 
> Sorry I’ve been blue balling you for so long but I promise this 7 month long edge will have been well worth it.


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